The Flaming Dawn
by packleader96
Summary: Twilight meets a mysterious and friendly unicorn, named Flame at the Gala, is he everything she thinks he is, or is it a lie to hide a darker secret, one that could change Equestria forever. rated T for violence and language. Twilight&OC.
1. Prologue

**A/N: this is my second story for MLP, everybody enjoy, my newest release.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any MLP characters; they all belong to their respective owners.**

**The Flaming Dawn: prologue**

It was a calm beautiful night, over the town of Ponyville, when a chilling nighttime breeze blew through the quiet streets; the sky above was dotted with small clouds that tried to obscure the bright moon.

All of the families had gone to sleep for the night, all except one.

"Come on mom, read us a bedtime story" a filly unicorn said as she bounced up and down on the bed.

"Sorry, you had one last night, remember you two have school tomorrow, it's a big day" a lavender unicorn said as she tucked her foals under the covers. "Aww…please just one, and we promise we will go to sleep" said another young colt as he looked at his mom with pleading eyes.

The purple coated unicorn, always had a weak spot when her foals, gave her the look, it greatly reminded her of when she was young and used it on her parents, and sometimes with her friends.

She knew she couldn't say no to those precious faces; she just sighed, and walked back to the two beds where her foals were nestled under the blankets.

"Alright, you win" she said as she got up in a chair in between both beds, she heard her foals cheer in happiness, she turned to face them.

"Okay, which one do you want to hear?" she asked them, looking them in the eyes.

Tell us…the story about how you and dad met" the filly asked excitedly, looking at her mother, the request slightly caught the older unicorn by surprise, "haven't I told you that one before?" she asked looking to each of her foals, "uh…no you haven't" the young colt said innocently, but the older one could see that they were fibbing, but she decided to play along.

"well, let's see, I first met your father, a few years ago, it was the time of the grand galloping gala, and when your father asked me to dance for the first time, I could tell he was playing mystery colt, because he didn't tell me anything but his name, but he seemed like a nice young stallion, so I accepted"

"Really, then what happened?" the young colt asked impatient to hear the rest, "let's see, later that night, I got to know him a bit more, and the days following, completely changed both of our lives" the mare said proudly, but also with a small hint of sorrow, one that went unnoticed by her foals.

"is this when you and dad went on that big adventure together" the filly asked sitting up in bed, "ah ha, I knew I told you this story before" the unicorn said looking at her daughter, the filly just smiled sheepishly and nestled back down in the bed quietly.

"Now let me start, at the beginning of our adventure, the one that changed my life for the better"

**A/N: well, what do you all think for the first chapter of my newest story? Don't worry there will be more to come, that I can promise.**


	2. Chapter 1

**A/N: like I said, the next chapter is up for all to enjoy.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 1: Gala preparations**

It was a beautiful day in ponyville, and a young lavender unicorn, named Twilight Sparkle, was busy walking through the streets, she was one her way to join her friends at Rarity's boutique, once there she was going to get her dress for the Gala, the most important pageant in equestria.

"Boy…what a beautiful day" said a young purple and green dragon that was riding on Twilight's back, "yep, and this time we really will make it our best night ever" Twilight said as she came up to her friends shop, and knocked on the door.

The door opened to reveal a beautiful young unicorn with a white coat and neatly brushed purple mane and tail. "Twilight, you're the last one here, come in" she said stepping aside so her friend could come inside, "yeah, sorry about that Rarity, spike and I, were finishing up organizing one of the shelves in the basement" Twilight said as they went into the back room and joined the rest of their friends.

When they entered the room rarity went to the back and grabbed a velvet curtain in her hoof and turned to get her friends attention, "ladies, may I present to you, your improved gala dresses" she said as she pulled it aside, to reveal six shining, dresses, when they all got a closer look, they saw that it was their old dresses, but with more colors, and other adjustments done by Rarity.

But they were shocked none the less, "wow…you went through all the trouble, just make them better" Fluttershy said in wonder.

"Indeed, instead of making six completely new dresses, I just improved the originals" Rarity said proudly, "come on, let's get them on" she said distributing them among her friends; spike on the other hoof was waiting outside giving the mares their privacy.

Twilight being the last one to finish putting on her dress, had to be helped by Applejack, to zip up the back, and make sure it was all ready.

"Oh boy…I can't wait to get to the gala, it's going to be so amazing" said an over excited Pinkie Pie.

"Yes, let's just hope I doesn't turn out like the last time, let's truly make this the best night ever" Twilight said as she extended her hoof, into the middle, followed by the other's.

Suddenly they heard an impatient knock on the door, when it opened, Spike came in, in a calm fashion, dressed in a black tuxedo, "your carriage waits" he said with a slight bow gesturing towards the door. The girls all just simply giggled, and proceeded to follow one another until they had all funneled outside.

What they saw simply amazed them; they saw a carriage pulled by two stallions both dressed in fancy tuxedos, due to Rarity's ability, to convince a stallion, they managed to get a private carriage all the way to canterlot.

As they rode along the dirt roads, the girls continued to talk amongst themselves for the remainder of the journey, until they final arrived, at the Canterlot Castle gates.

When they stopped Spike jumped down, he opened the door, and with a graceful bow, he gestured for the young mares to exit the carriage.

When they stepped out, their mouths dropped open out of shock, what they saw shocked even the most prepared pony, all the decorations, the lights, the fireworks.

"Come on, girls, let's truly have the best night ever" Twilight said as they cheered and made their way, into the castle.

When they entered the large and glimmering, castle chambers, they saw the grand staircase, with none other than Princess Celestia, and Princess Luna, standing gracefully at the top of the steps greeting the other ponies as they went their separate ways to enjoy the party.

Twilight bid Farwell to her friends, but they agreed to meet up in a few hours, Twilight herself, had gone up to meet the princess, when she came up to her, the princess smiled warmly down at her student.

"Twilight sparkle, I am so glad you and your friends made it, I am sure you will all have great time, would you like to accompany me for the time being?" she asked looking down at her personal protégé.

"Yes, Princess, I have been waiting for this to happen for a long time now" she said as she walked up to her mentor's side.

"indeed, I am sure tonight will be a very interesting one" the Princess said quietly to herself as she surveyed the crowd, when she spotted a particular stallion, suspiciously making his way through the crowds, when he noticed he was spotted, he immediately quickened his pace and disappeared around the corner, the princess quickly looked away to greet one of canterlot's noble's.

When the stallion had disappeared around the corner, he leaned up against the wall, _"Flame, are you inside yet, have you located the primary target"_ he heard a voice say through his head set.

"Yes sir, infiltration is complete, the target has been identified" he said as he put his hoof up to the miniature headset, which was in his ear.

"_Excellent, remember, she is not to be harmed yet, the time will come for her to suffer"_ the voice on the end of the line said before it went dead.

He took it off and reached into the pocket of his tuxedo, he pulled out a small picture of his target; he read the small message on the back.

He again turned the image over and studied it, he realized that it was the young unicorn; he saw at the top of the staircase, he remembered her name from his briefing, and he quietly said it to himself.

The picture he was holding was that of the Princess Celestia's personal student, Twilight Sparkle, he quickly put the picture in his pocket and made his way to the dance floor.

**A/N: well, the first bit of suspense, don't worry, it will continue in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 2

**A/N: the next chapter is up.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 2: a wonderful night**

About an hour had passed since twilight and her friends had parted ways, twilight had been listening to the princess greet and talk with some of the noble's, and it was increasingly boring for her.

When the princess had parted ways with the nobles, she turned and looked down at her student, "twilight, I believe I saw your friends gathering in the dance hall, why don't you join them, I have some important business to take care of" she said while smiling down at her student, "well, okay princess, I believe I am supposed to meet my friends soon anyway" twilight said as she walked off at a brisk pace.

When she reached the dance room, she saw some ponies dancing to the calm music from the musicians; suddenly she saw her friend applejack, on the other side of the room, in her apple stand, selling treats to the customers.

When she walked up she only noticed her friend rarity there, she assumed that her other friends hadn't arrived yet, "howdy, twilight, how's your night so far?" applejack asked as she leaned over the stand, "good so far, except when the princess started talking to the noble's, she excused me, so I came to find you girl's" she said with a calm tone.

On the other side of the room, the mysterious unicorn from before, was watching twilight, talking to her friends calmly, he looked at the grand clock, on the wall, "well, time to make my move" he said to himself as he slowly made his way, across the room, growing closer to his target, he began to make out what they were saying, but his mind was focused on other things.

As twilight continued talking with her friends, she suddenly got the that they were being watched, her suspicion was proven correct when they heard, a pony clear there throat from behind, when they turned around they saw a stallion about the same age as them, he had a slightly grey coat, and a fiery red mane and tail.

"Sorry, if I startled you, but I had to ask, are you the twilight sparkle, personal student of the princess?" he asked in an unusually calm tone, "Yes I am, sorry who are you?" twilight asked as she eyed the new stallion up and down, "oh forgive me, where are my manners, my name is flame, it is an honor to meet you face to face miss sparkle, I have heard so much about you and your friends" he said as he took her hoof and lightly kissed, this gesture made twilight blush greatly.

"might I say you look very beautiful, in that dress" he said with a warm smile, when he said that twilight's suspicion dropped, she could tell he wasn't dangerous, "well thank you, mister flame" twilight said returning his smile, suddenly the mood of the music, became slow and calming, as if on cue, the musicians started playing a slow song.

"oh…I love this song, miss sparkle, would you like to dance" he said extending his hoof in a kind manner, at first twilight was about to say no, but then rarity whispered something in her ear, "come on twilight, accept, it's not every day you get a handsome stallion like him asking you to dance" rarity whispered in her ear, even after that twilight, was still unsure, she had never danced with a stallion before.

"okay, I guess it won't do any harm" twilight said taking his hoof, he smiled a calm and friendly smile as he led them to the dance floor, when they reached the center, he put his hoof on her shoulder, this gesture made twilight uncomfortable, she slowly began to pull back, but was stopped by flame, "don't worry, miss sparkle, just flow my every step, you can trust me" he said as he slowly began to sway to the music, something about the way he said it was very comforting.

As the began to go a little faster, twilight realized that it wasn't that bad, she felt she could trust this stallion, "you certainly, know how to dance" she said as she smiled and continued to mimic his movements, suddenly they noticed that all the other couples had stopped dancing and were now watching them, but they didn't even notice.

When the music gradually slowed to a stop, so did they, when they stopped the room erupted in cheer, when all the other dancers stopped cheering twilight and flame made their way to the gardens where they spent their time getting to know each other.

"So have you ever been to the gala, before" twilight asked flame as they made their way through the gardens, "on the occasion, when I am not working, it's the perfect way to relax" he said as he walked next to her.

"What is it you do, by the way?" twilight asked as her curiosity grew, "well…it's kind of secret work, I'm not at liberty to say, unfortunately, but I can tell you it's never boring, what about you?" he asked as they turned the corner, "me, I love to read books, I run the local library down in ponyville, have you ever been there?" she asked as they laughed, "hmm…ponyville, it's sound familiar, but I can't say I have" he said as they stopped, "I hope you have enjoyed yourself, I know I have, I got meet you, for one thing, and that is something I wouldn't change" he said as he turned to face her, this comment made twilight blush heavily, "I have enjoyed myself too, this has been a wonderful night, and I owe it to you" twilight said as she looked him in the eyes,.

Suddenly, she looked at the clock, and her eyes widened, as she realized she still needs to meet her friends back in the castle. "Sorry, but I forgot, I have to meet my friends, maybe we will see each other again, sometime" she said as she ran off in the direction of the dance hall.

As flame watched her run off, he sighed to himself, "oh don't worry we will…sooner than you think" he said as he frowned and moved and made his way out of the party.

When twilight met her friends in front of the castle she took a minute to catch her breath, "what took you so long?" rainbow dash asked impatiently, "she was talking with her new colt-friend, at this comment twilight blushed heavily again, but she defended her self, "he's not my colt-friend, we just met, he's just a really nice pony, that's all" she said with confidence, but her friends didn't buy it, twilight broke the silence again by saying, "come on let's get back to ponyville" she said as she walked past her friends and into the carriage, that would take them all the way back to ponyville.

As they rode along twilight was the only one silent, as she looked out the window at the moon, the sound of her friends talking in the distance, twilight's mind was still focused on the mysterious stallion flame she met earlier, he was hiding something from her, that she knew was certain.

**A/N: well, there you have it; the next chapter will be up soon.**


	4. Chapter 3

**A/N: in this chapter, things get really interesting.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 3: secret meeting**

It had been a few hours since flame left the gala, after spending the evening with the beautiful mare twilight sparkle, he found himself walking through the everfree forest in the dead of night, and he had always heard tales of ponies going into the forest at night and never coming out.

He remembered his father's ghost stories, when he was just a young colt, but he always thought that they were meant to scare him and keep him from going there, he remembered a lot about his parents, until their untimely death when he was young, the painful memory brought tears to his eye's.

His parents were always good to him, and he repaid them by being the best son they could be, his older brother, never picked on him, his life seemed to be perfect, until they died, a few years ago.

Flame was pulled from his happy memories, when he reached a large clearing in the forest, the trees around him seemed to form a large circle, he remembered the stories of the creatures that lurked in the trees at night, but as he grew older he learned to not fear anything; the training he endured taught him to fear nothing.

As he surveyed the trees he found them oddly still and quiet, he let the cool breeze blow through his red and orange colored mane.

Suddenly he brought his hoof up to his lips, and blew the sound that came out resembled that of a bird call, he listened as the sound echoed through the trees and out of his hearing range, he waited a few minutes for another sound, but none came.

Out of nowhere he heard a sound coming from the trees, to others it might have sounded like an ordinary bird call, but he knew. Them something appeared in his field of vision, a figure was emerging from the shadows of the trees, then from the corner of his eye, he saw more appear and slowly emerge from their hiding places.

When they reached him, he kept a calm face, as they stopped a few feet in front of him, with one swift motion, he gave a clam bow, "skyfall, my master, the deed is done" he said with his face to the ground, the one in the middle stepped forward a few inches, he then reached for his hood and slowly pulled it away from his face, revealing a pony with an almost pure black coat, and a silvery mane.

When he looked down at the pony before him, smiled and chuckled, "excellent work, you may rise my young apprentice" he said in a hoarse voice, with that flame rose from his bowing position, and came to eye level with the older pony in front of him.

"You did your job then, I presume, you confronted the target" he said with a calm face, "yes master, she was not harmed as we planned" he said looking at the ponies before him, "good, then we are one small step closer to achieving our true goal" he said as he turned and began to circle flame, "master, with all due respect, why can't we finish them off now, why put off the inevitable" the other one asked taking off his hood as well, the leader just laughed, "patience arrow, they will die soon enough, but we need to break them first, give them no hope" he said with a sinister grin, he then noticed his apprentice seemed a little on edge, "what is troubling you flame?" he asked coming around on his right side, and turning to face him.

"to be honest sir, I can't help to question out motives for sending me alone, to infiltrate their circle of friends" flame asked lowering his head, skyfall had been his mentor since as long as he could remember, ever since his family died.

"what, are you becoming soft, flame" arrow said in a mocking tone, but was silenced by skyfall, "no, he has every right to know why, they are the only ones who could possibly stand in our way, the princess has failed to so for a long time now, if we are to successfully pull off this coup, we need to eliminate all possible threats, if we are discovered, the princess would send her student and her friends, instead of taking care of it herself, like she should have long ago" skyfall said as he stepped in front of him again.

"I am sorry for questioning your orders, master" flame said in an apologetic tone. "No apology is necessary, your new assignment, I want you to meet this friend of yours, you have one week to infiltrate her circle of friends, before we send in the assassins" he said as he looked down at his student.

"What if they suspect?" flame said looking up at his master, "then we will have to accelerate our plans" he said again, suddenly the third one came up and spoke, "do you wish me, to accompany flame on this mission, it may prove more difficult than we believe, at least he will have a friend there to help him" said the other pony who had been quiet the whole time, when he said that flame smiled, but skyfall just sighed.

"I know you two are like brothers, but this mission is solely for flame, if you were both to go, then it might increase the chance of them suspecting us" he said turning to face the other pony, when he said that the third one backed off slowly with his head bowed, skyfall then turned back to his young apprentice.

I wont fail you master, they will suffer, and we will be victorious" flame said as he began to turn around, but was stopped by his mentor.

"Remember flame, remember why you do this, if you complete this mission, and I know you will, you will be one step closer, to gaining your revenge" he said as his apprentice turned his back and made his way into the shadows.

When flame disappeared back into the forest, skyfall sighed, "don't you think this is a bit much for him" arrow asked as he stepped beside him, "arrow, I trust your judgment, that is why you are my second in command, but I have trained flame ever since he was a young colt, he is ready for this" skyfall said with confidence in his apprentice.

"But if he were to find out the truth, he might turn on us" arrow said while staring in the direction flame had gone, "let us hope that does not happen, he is strong, stronger than any pony I have trained, he can handle himself" skyfall said as he turned and walked back into the trees.

**A/N: I told you things would get interesting, tune in next time to find out what happens next.**


	5. Chapter 4

**A/N: the next chapter is up, for everybody to enjoy.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 4: second impressions**

It had been two day since twilight and her friends attended the grand galloping gala in canterlot, and now it was time to go back to their usual daily routines.

Twilight herself was walking calmly through the market area of ponyville, normally she would be locked up in her library reading books, but she only had one thing on her agenda, she was heading to the outskirts of the town, where she was going to try a new spell she had learned, fortunately spike had offered to be the test subject.

When she finally reached the edge of town, she felt that she was being watched from somewhere, but deciding that it was just her imagination, she shook it off.

"Okay, remind me what kind of spell it is again" spike asked nervously as he walked in front of twilight, "it's a spell that will let me change the properties of one object into another, it's really quite simple to understand, but actually pulling it off, that will be interesting" she said as she levitated a book in front of her face, when she was confident she was ready she put the book gently to the side.

She then levitated, a medium sized rock into the small dragon's claw, "here hold this, let's see…okay let's do this" twilight said as she got into a readied position.

As she focused her energy, her horn started to glow as the wind started to pick up a little speed, suddenly the rock in spike's hand was enveloped in a purple glow, as it lifted into the air, quickly the rock turned white, as it form started to change before the dragons eye.

When he glanced back at twilight, he saw that she was actually straining, to pull this off, he was about to tell her to stop, but he was cut off by a bright light, when he uncovered his eye's, he felt something soft land in the palm of his claw, when he turned back to look, he saw a delicious shiny red apple.

"whoa…that is so cool" spike said admiring the apple, when twilight was done, she rubbed her head, and walked over to spike, "go ahead, you might as well eat it" she said smiling, spike smiled back as he took a bite of the apple, when he did, his eyes widened as he slowly chewed and swallowed.

"wow…that is the best apple I have ever tasted…don't tell applejack I said that" he said with a nervous smile, twilight's only response was a light hearted chuckle, "okay, let's do this one more time, that takes a lot out of me" she said as she walked back and resumed her previous position.

Spike picked up another large rock, and prepared to eat it, when it turned to another apple, as twilight closed her eyes and focused again on the rock, the rock glowed a white color, soon it form began to change form, spike opened his mouth wide, but he wouldn't get it.

"well, well, you are quite gifted with magic, I am impressed" said a voice from behind twilight, when she heard it, she lost her concentration, and there for the rock retained its original shape, unfortunately spike didn't realize it, he felt a sharp pain in his teeth, when he opened his eyes he saw the rock half way in his mouth, completely embarrassed he spit it out and began rubbing his sore teeth.

When twilight turned around, she saw a familiar stallion, with a red and orange mane, standing behind her smiling at them, "oh…it's you, you actually scared me" twilight said rubbing her chin, flame smiled and walked forward, "it's good to see you again, miss sparkle" flame said with a calming tone.

Twilight blushed when he used her name formally, "please, we aren't at the gala, you can call me by my first name, speaking of which where did you go, you kind of disappeared on me" twilight said with a small laugh, flame joined in on the laughter, "yes, I do apologize for that, I had very important business to attend to" he said calmly, remembering the night before.

"well it must be really important, that you had to miss the most important gathering in equestria" twilight said with a kind tone, "yes, well you could say that" he said trying not to act suspicious.

"Well still, it is very nice to see you again" twilight said calmly, flame looked over her shoulder, and saw that he disturbed her, " I am sorry, I wasn't interrupting anything was I" he said with concern, "well, I was in the middle, of a spell, but I was just about done anyway, hey I have an idea, how would you like to meet my friends" twilight said as she picked up her book, with her magic, and put it in her saddle bag.

"I would be honored, to meet the other elements of harmony, face to face" he said as he walked past her, when he said that her mouth dropped open in shock, "you know about that?" she asked as he turned around, "well, saving the world from nightmare moon and discord, doesn't exactly go unnoticed" he said with a smile.

All though her suspicion was rising she still led him to meet her friends, when they reached sweet apple acres, they both saw applejack bucking trees, when they walked up to her, twilight cleared her throat, to get her friends attention.

"hey applejack, you remember flame, from the gala" twilight said gesturing to the stallion beside her, "well, howdy partner, we never got fully introduced, my names applejack" she said shaking his hoof rapidly, "pleasure to make you acquaintance" flame said while shaking up and down, causing twilight and spike to laugh.

(Later…)

After spending the day, meeting twilight's friends, they also spent the time getting to know each other, which was precisely what he was ordered to do, but yet something felt different, but flame just shook it off, as they approached twilight's house.

"Well, I certainly enjoyed seeing you again and meeting your friends, especially your friend pinkie pie, that is truly an encounter I won't forget, and I have met some really interesting ponies in my line of work" he said as he turned to her, 'you never did tell me what it is that you do for work, or where you live, or anything" twilight said with suspicion taking over her voice.

Flame simply smiled, and looked at her, "it's best if you didn't know, what I do is kind of secret" he said with a smile, "you mean, you work for the princess, and the royal guard" twilight said in amazement, "no, not really, but something along those lines, like I said it's best if you didn't know" he said with a clam face, twilight trusted him, and pushed the topic aside.

"Wow, it really has gotten late, the sun is already setting" twilight said as she looked off at the sun, slowly setting behind the hill, "yes, it is, I believe it is time for us to part ways again, until next time" he said as he began to walk away, but was stopped by twilight, "wait…do you have a place to stay?" she asked.

Flame had an idea what she was leading up to, "no not around here, but I will be fine" he said turning back to face her, this slightly depressed twilight, but she tried not to make it obvious, but flame could see right through her.

"you could always, stay with me, I have a spare room in the basement" twilight said invitingly, but flame could not accept, "sorry, twilight, but it's best if I don't, don't worry, I might see you tomorrow" he said as he walked away, leaving a slightly depressed twilight behind, "yeah, okay" she said as she made her way into the library, after watching him disappear around a corner.

When flame watched twilight walk into the library, he leaned up against the wall and sighed heavily, "come on, stay focused flame, don't lose your head, get it in gear, follow the mission" he said to himself, as he walked off in search of a place to sleep, being trained in the art of survival, he walked to the edge of the forest and teleported into the tree, he then balanced himself on a branch, and slowly descended into sleep.

**A/N: so far that is probably the longest chapter I have written, the next chapter will be up soon, see you then.**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: this is the chapter where the action begins, so enjoy**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 5: the ambush**

It had been two day since flame had met up with twilight again after their night at the gala, during that period of time, flame spent it, getting to know twilight and her friends as much as possible, as far he was concerned, he had finished the first part of his mission.

There was only one last step to fully gain their trust, and make him apart of their circle of friends for good, "hey twilight, how about you and your friends join me for a little afternoon stroll, on the outskirts" flame said as he walked around the library, examining the books, "oh sorry flame, I can't, I have a lot of studying to catch up on" twilight said as she organized a book shelf.

"oh come on, you're not scared are you, don't worry nothing bad will happen" he said trying not to sound suspicious, luckily twilight didn't notice, "well okay, I guess I could put it off for half a day, spike watch the library, while I am gone" twilight said walking out the door, quickly followed by flame.

(Later…)

After managing to convince twilight's friends to join them, they found themselves walking on the edge of town, the tree line of the everfree forest, a mere few feet away, flame himself, looked more and more nervous as he watched the sun set slowly in the distance.

"What, exactly are we doing out here again?" a suspicious applejack said as she walked beside her friend twilight, "I'm not entirely sure" twilight said as she looked over to flame, who seemed to be in deep thought, twilight nudged him in the shoulder, in order to get his attention.

"Huh…what?" he said shacking himself from his thoughts, "I was asking what are we doing out here, you never did tell us, come to think of it, you have been really on edge today, are you okay?" twilight asked concerned evident in her voice, "well like I said, we're just taking a walk" he said still focusing forward.

"well it's getting late, we should all head back, the sun is setting, and we don't want to be here at night" twilight said, as they began to turn, but were stopped by flame, "wait, something not's right, do any of you feel like were being watched or is it me" he said looking past the tree line and into the dark shadows of the forest.

"Uh…no, why is something wrong?" twilight asked as they turned around, he didn't answer her, he was too focused watching the movement of the trees, he knew for a fact that they were being watched, from in the trees.

"Hey flame, are you okay?" twilight asked again, but he still didn't answer, suddenly his eyes widened, he looked back at twilight, she could see the fear in his eyes, "run!, quick , go get out of here!" he said panic taking over his voice, "what, why?, what is it" twilight asked fear in her voice as well, "no time, just run" he said pushing them along, as they made their way back to town, suddenly they were cut off by something flying, in front of them, as it landed in the ground, they stopped dead in their tracks.

When they saw that isn't wasn't going to harm them, flame approached it, and picked it up, what he saw resembled that of a dagger, "what is it?" twilight asked worriedly, when he saw the design on the end, he turned around, "get behind me, quick!" he said as they all funneled behind him, suddenly they were all blinded by a white flash, that forced them to cover their eyes.

When it cleared they saw, a hooded figure standing in front of them, "who are you?" flame asked with anger in his voice, the figure simply laughed, "none of your business, stand aside, we just want them" he said pointing to twilight and her friends who were cowering behind flame, who didn't seemed affected by this newcomer.

"I won't ask again" the hooded figure said, suddenly another figure appeared beside him, and then more came out, all emerging from the forest, soon flame and his friends were surrounded, "you're out numbered, if you will come with us" the leader said, staring flame in the eyes, "sorry can't do that" flame said stepping forward challenging the leader, "you're making a fools choice" the leader said still in a calm position, instead of answering his challenge, he motioned for some of the unicorns in his group, to face him.

"No flame don't do it" twilight said, fearing for her friends life, "don't worry about me, I have dealt with these ponies before, I can handle myself" he said turning back to face her, but it didn't change her mind, suddenly quicker than lightning, the pony to flames left, dove at him, but flame having gone through intense combat training, smiled and ducked, making the pony, miss and crash land into the pony on the right.

The leader, as well as twilight and her friends were all equally shocked; he then motioned for his entire group to attack flame, flame being quicker than he looked was dodging all the oncoming attacks, having to land very few of his own, quickly one pony again tried to pounce on flame, but he quickly spun around, and bucked him in the chest, knocking the wind out of him, and sending him flying into a group of other assailants.

Deciding to take action into his own hooves the leader, pulled out a crossbow, and aimed it at flame, who was busy defending himself to notice, "flame look out behind you!" he heard twilight yell, from behind him, as the leader pulled the trigger, flame turned to the side, and quickly dodged the oncoming arrow, using his instincts, he turned his head to the side barely avoiding the shot, he could see the arrow, barely cut off one of the strands in his mane.

After he dodged, he used his magic, and created a small cloud, as the cloud spread, it covered all the remaining attackers, when it cleared, flame was nowhere to be seen incredibly surprised, the leader, began to panic, as he tried to reload the crossbow, when he pulled back the next arrow, he brought it back in front of him, searching for flame.

Suddenly he felt, something tap on his shoulder, fearing the worst, he slowly moved his head to the side, when he did, he was met by a hoof to the face, the force of the blow, made him lose his balance, and he lost his grip on the crossbow, as it flew out of his hooves.

When he landed on the ground, he looked up and saw flame standing over him, a look of pure rage in his eyes, he also saw his crossbow, in flames hoof, and it was pointed directly at his forehead. "you lose, now get out of here" he said with a calm voice, "what if I refuse?" the leader asked, "it wouldn't end very well, for you, now go, before I change my mind, and I ever see you harming twilight or any of her friends, I will kill you" flame said in a calm voice, the leader didn't need to be told twice, he quickly got up and called his remaining followers to retreat, he took one last look back at flame, "you can't protect her forever, we will be back" he said as he disappeared into the trees.

After they retreated, flame turned back to twilight and her friends, who surprisingly, were not harmed, due to the enemy being focused on him, "are you all okay?" he asked as he walked up to him, "what in the hay, was that!" applejack said, "I'll explain later, we need to go" he said as he turned and walked away, "no you can tell us now, and we want the truth" twilight said with anger in her voice.

When she said that, flame stopped dead in his tracks, knowing he couldn't win, without exposing the truth, he sighed heavily, and turned back to face them, "fine I will tell you the truth, but not here, come on let's all go back to the library" he said walking past them, and back to the town.

(Ponyville library)

As they walked in, flames closed the door behind them and locked it, "okay, now tell us what's going on, how did you know them, and where did you learn to fight like that?" twilight asked as they all took seats surrounding him, flame sighed, a faced them, "okay…the truth may be hard to believe, but you deserve to know, those ponies belong to a group of assassins, their sole purpose is to eliminate any pony they see as a threat, in this case it was you six" he said with his head down, when twilight and her friends heard this, they all gasped.

Expecting this, he continued, "that particular group, I have encountered before, and to answer your second question, I was trained to fight, not just with my magic, but also physically, I was hired by my group to protect you" he said standing up and pacing around the room, "there has to be more than that, you're not telling us something" rainbow dash said, suspiciously, "you are all a lot smarter than you look, yes…I have known them for a while" he said sadly, "what happened?" twilight said slowly stepping forward, "they…they murdered my family, my mom and dad, and even my older brother" he said as tears began to form in his eyes.

When he told them that, they all gasped again, "oh no…were all sorry to hear that" rarity said sadly, "thanks for that, but it was a long time ago" he said wiping the tears from his eyes, "anyway…they will be back, and I can't protect all of you, so I recommend you all stay together, especially at night, you should all stay here for the night, it will be safer, I will stand guard" he said investigating the area.

Suddenly, twilight steeped forward, "flame, we appreciate your concern, but we could handle ourselves" she said in a serious tone, but flame didn't buy it, "no, if you separate they will hunt you down one by one, believe me I know" he said turning to face her. "what do we do then?" fluttershy asked, speaking for the first time.

'we stay inside, at least till morning, twilight, is there a place to stay for them, is your room big enough" he said again turning to the lavender unicorn, "well yes, but it would be very crowded" she said worriedly, "I'm afraid you have no choice" he said with a solemn look.

(Later…)

After gathering enough, bedding supplies, to have her friends sleep in her room, twilight walked up to flame, "okay, everything secure" she said still unsure about his motives, "okay, you need to stay inside for the night, lock the door, don't open it for anypony, expect for me or spike, we will be staying downstairs" he said as he made his way to the door, when spike heard this he groaned and followed, flame out the door.

When they reached downstairs, spike hoped onto the couch, while flame found a spot on the floor, "isn't that uncomfortable?" spike asked, "ha believe me, I've been in worse situations, now get some sleep" he said as he laid his head down on his hooves.

Flame knew he didn't have much time, yet it pained him so much to lie to twilight, and her friends, he wished it was easier, but he knew that was impossible, he certainly liked twilight, every time he thought about her, his mind seemed to blur, he didn't want to hurt them, it was as if he doubted himself, which had never happened before, there was something different about twilight, something he couldn't explain, he pushed that thought aside, and closed his eyes.

**A/N: the first bit of action, and of course the suspense still rises in the next chapter, see you then.**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: again, the next chapter is up, more suspense is in store.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 6: second meeting**

After flame, had instructed twilight and her friends to stay together for the time being, he had gone down to the living room, where he would keep watch, in case the assassins would return, but they didn't return.

It was well into the middle of the night, twilight and her friends had fallen asleep, spike was also fast asleep on the couch nearby, flame himself was quietly lying down, he had tried to get some sleep, but he couldn't manage to fall asleep, the bright moon shined, down through the windows, the light seemed to shine directly his face.

When he was sure nopony was awake, he opened his eyes, and looked around, when he turned to spike, he saw him fast asleep on the couch, wrapped in the blanket, he slowly rose from his position, and he looked up at the moon, and sighed to himself.

He then turned towards the door, and crept quietly forward, the floor boards creaked under his hooves, every time they groaned under his weight; he turned back to spike, to make sure he wasn't awakened, when he reached the door he quickly flipped the lock, and opened it, as slowly and quietly as possible, until it was open enough to squeeze through.

When he slipped through the door, and closed it behind him, just as calmly, he turned around and saw the abandoned streets of ponyville, vague of life.

There was a very thin layer of fog, moving slowly through the streets, but thick enough to obscure his form as he made his way through the streets, when he reached town square, he moved slowly staying in the shadows, all the ponies had gone to sleep, but one of the most important lessons he learned was, always be vigilant, and aware, so he kept a low profile as he made his way across town square.

Even though, he was sure that nopony was outside, he looked behind him to make sure, he wasn't being followed, when he was satisfied, he had reached the other end of town square.

As he crept along the sides of one of the houses, he quickly turned into a nearby alley, and walked through it, when he turned around again to make sure he wasn't being followed one last time, suddenly he heard of wings flapping, and hooves touching down on the ground behind him, he turned around and saw three hooded figures emerging from the other side of the alley.

"Ah, I see you have made it on time" the middle one said as he removed his hood, revealing none other than arrow, flame didn't answer, as he stared him in the eyes, "I take it, everything went well" he said in a calm tone, "yes, everything went as planned, you send assassins, I defend them and gain their trust" flame said as he stood firmly in place, "yes, the group we sent, said you nearly killed some of them, especially the leader" arrow said, with a raised eyebrow.

When he said that, flame sighed, "yes well, I needed to make it believable, and it worked, they trust me completely" flame said with a sad tone.

Arrow noticed this, "yes, I am sure skyfall will be pleased to hear this bit of news, remember, you have less than a week, before we come back for them" arrow said, as they began to turn and leave, but suddenly he stopped, and turned back to flame, he eyed him up and down, he then looked him dead in the eyes, "you seem…different, somehow flame" arrow said his voice full of suspicion.

This particular comment caught flames attention, "what are you talking about?" he said fearing that he had been caught, but he tried to hide, it, unfortunately, arrow could see right through him.

"Ever since you were assigned this mission, you have been acting different, perhaps, you are unfit, to preform your duties" arrow said as he began to circle flame, flame tried his best to hide it, "now that's ridiculous, why would I be unfit for missions, this is like any other I have been assigned" flame said with confidence, but it didn't fool arrow.

"If you say so, you may be skyfall's favorite apprentice, but I am his second in command, and I can see right through you" he said as he continued to circle flame, "that's…your wrong, I'm fine" flame said, but in truth he wasn't, and arrow could see it.

When arrow stopped dead in front of him, as he looked deep into flames eyes, he saw something that shocked him, "you…you've fallen for her haven't you, that unicorn twilight" arrow said still half in shock, now flame began to panic, "now you're being pathetic arrow, I know she is going to die, why would I fall for her" flame said, trying to convince himself, more than arrow.

"I can see it in your eyes, you have fallen for her, this is priceless" arrow said as he started to laugh, this only made flame angry, "oh…you're right about one thing flame, they are going to die, and you can't save them, and if you try to, it will be seen as an act of betrayal" arrow said now serious again, as he stared flame in the eyes again.

"I know my duties arrow, I don't need you to tell me, I am loyal to the guild, and nothing else" flame said confidence rising in his voice, "good, I don't recall if skyfall ever told you the story about his last apprentice…let's just say he followed the same path you are" he said as he began to turn around and walk away, but before he did, he turned his head back to flame, "remember where your loyalties lie, with us, or with them, weakness is not tolerated in the guild" he said before he turned his head back to the front, and took off in the air.

As they disappeared into the misty sky, flame sighed and looked at the ground, he had been thinking a lot about what arrow told him, even after trying to convince himself otherwise, he couldn't deny it, indeed, he had fallen for twilight sparkle, the unicorn he was assigned to kill, but now he began to question his ability to do it, he never hesitated in a mission that was assigned to him, to do that was a direct violation of his training.

He knew better than to betray his master and the guild, he remembered the stories of those who fled or betrayed the guild, they were killed, violently.

In all his missions, he never killed, unless it was for self-defense, or his main objective was to kill, even though he did it, it pained him so much to see somepony else suffer, he never wanted this life, but after his parents were murdered, he swore his loyalty to the guild, and in return that would help him gain his revenge.

Suddenly, he shook those memories from his mind, when he looked up at the sky, he saw the faintest glimpse of light in the horizon, he realized he had been there for over an hour, lost in thought, over the young beautiful unicorn, he sighed and made his way back to the library, luckily for him, the fog was still nice and thick, which made it easy for him to sneak back, when he reached the library, he slowly opened the door, as quietly as he did when leaving.

When he observed the room, he saw the young dragon, still curled up in the blanket, when flame looked up through the window, he saw the sky was slowly becoming brighter, dawn was only a few hours away, flame sighed and resumed his spot on the floor, luckily for him, his training made it, so he only needed a few hours of sleep, and still be fully rested, he soon closed his eyes, and descended into a restless sleep, with a certain lavender unicorn on his mind.

(Unknown location)

Arrow was walking though, a large hallway, he had just returned from getting news from flame, he was taken from his thoughts when he reached a large door, he sighed as he opened the door, it revealed a large room, he found himself, in a room, with multiple ponies, walking around, when he walked across the room, he couldn't help but think about what he said to flame, if he was indeed weak, than it means he is a traitor, but he couldn't do anything without skyfall's approval.

When he opened a smaller door, it revealed a small desk, with a pony sitting in the chair, looking over what seemed to be a miniature map, when he approached he stopped in the middle of the room, and took a bow, "master, I have news from flame" he said while looking up at the pony in the chair, "excellent, I have no doubt, that flame will complete his mission, and we will be closer to victory" skyfall said as he rose from the chair.

He then walked up to a larger version of the map, "that's not the only reason I am here sir, when I encountered flame, I noticed something, he has changed, it's my belief that he has become weak" he said with a hint of nervousness, he knew skyfall wouldn't believe him.

When he heard this skyfall turned around, "what did you say?" he said as arrow rose from his bowing position, "sir…I could tell, he has fallen in love with the unicorn, twilight sparkle, I could see it in his eyes" arrow said, as sweat began to pour down his face, skyfall was the only one he was afraid of.

Instead of yelling or hitting him, skyfall sighed, and turned back to the map, "arrow, I trust you judgment, but flame is the finest apprentice I have trained, he won't fail us" he said with a hint of sadness, "with all due respect sir, even though he didn't openly admit it, he has become weak, my spies have kept an eye on him, and their reports only confirm my suspicion" arrow said as he slowly approached skyfall.

He didn't answer, but just kept staring at the map, "didn't we agree that this was his last mission, weakness is not tolerated, but it is dealt, with the most severe consequences, please sir, give me the order, and we can get rid of him before he threatens our whole operation" he said as he came up to him, finally skyfall turned to him, "no…not yet at least, I believe you, but let him finish his mission, if he still shows sign of weakness, I give you permission to deal with him, anyway you please" skyfall said facing arrow.

When he said that, it slightly depressed arrow, but he had no choice, but to do as he was told, he was loyal to skyfall, more than anypony.

"as you wish sir, but, if he is weak, he might discover the truth, and then we will have no choice, but to kill him, if he does, he will become a big threat, and it must be dealt with" arrow said as he turned and slowly walked away, skyfall didn't answer, he just turned and looked over the map, he sighed heavily, and followed arrow out.

**A/N: yes the chapters are getting longer, and will hopefully continue to do so, see ya next time.**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: again, the next chapter is up, so enjoy.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 7: a special day**

After flame's late night meeting with arrow, he did his best to get sleep, but his little chat with arrow, left his asking questions, ones he wasn't sure he could answer.

(Flame's dream)

Flame woke up in a large black room that seemed to go on forever, when he looked around, he noticed, there wasn't a single form of life anywhere.

"Hello is anypony there" he yelled out into the darkness, but got no answer in return, he slowly began to wonder, lost in the darkness, trying to find a way out.

After wandering for what seemed to be an hour, he finally gave up, "this has to be a dream, hello, is anypony there?" he yelled again, only this time he got his answer, "you lied to me!" he heard a voice say from behind him, when he turned around he saw none other than twilight herself.

"Twilight, is that you?" he asked the figure, indeed it was twilight, but her eyes were bloodshot and full of tears, "you lied to me, I trusted you, and you lied to me, all of us" it shouted in his face, he could see the tears spilling down her cheeks, "no…twilight, I…I tried to tell you" he said as tears began to form in his eyes.

"Why? Why did you do it? I hate you!" it yelled in his face, suddenly her voice became distorted, and her form, slowly lost its shape, as if she were a part of the wind itself, when she disappeared, flame could still hear her voice in his head, tears fell from his eyes, as he fell to the ground, he brought his hooves up to his head, trying to silence the voice inside.

Out of nowhere, he heard her voice again, only this time it was kinder, "flame, wake up, wake up", he heard it say, before he was blinded by a white light.

(Reality)

Flame opened his eyes, and found himself safe in the library, when he looked up he saw, twilight herself, gently shaking him awake, "huh…what, what is it?" he asked as he lifted himself off the ground, "well its morning, you looked like you were having a bad dream" she said concerned, when he looked around the room, he saw all of twilights friends, gathered around him.

"yeah well, I guess you could call it a crazy dream" he said remembering that haunting voice, which still echoed off in his head, "what was it about?" she asked, instead of telling her the truth, he knew he never could, "it was nothing really, I'm okay" he said trying to convince her, luckily for him, she bought it, finally she got up, and walked away, "do you think it's, safe if we leave?" fluttershy asked.

"well, I didn't hear anything at night, I guess you can all go home, but remember if you see anything suspicious, you come to me" he said seriously, they all nodded, "thank heavens, I have to go back to my shop, and finish twilight's birthday present" rarity said, as she made her way to the door, this comment caught flames attention, "say what?" he said completely confused, "oh…I never told you, with all this other business going on, my birthday is in two days" twilight said excitedly, this caught flame completely off guard, he realized the assassins were coming in three days' time, one day after her birthday, but he pretended to be excited as well, "well, I guess I better find you a present too" he said with a smile.

"oh, there is no need for that, you have already done so much" twilight said with a gentle smile, "but flame insisted, "please, I insist, it would be rude" he said politely, twilight simply nodded, "flame I could use some help, do you mind?" she asked, trying not to sound impolite, flame smiled, "not at all" he said as twilights friends funneled out of the library, and back to their homes

(Two days later)

During the days following, flames meeting with arrow, he spent his time, thinking about the strange and disturbing dream he had two days earlier, but he also spent time with twilight, but today was her birthday, and as usual, pinkie pie, set up a huge surprise party, much to twilights surprise, but flame himself had different plans, to celebrate twilight's birthday.

Even though he stayed for the party, he just stood to the side, as twilight opened her gifts; he had a bigger surprise, after the party, twilight spent the rest of the day hanging out with her friends, then flame made his move.

"well, twilight, it seems I am the only one, that hasn't given you your gift, if you will please follow me" he said in a polite manor, as they walked out the door, twilight glanced back, and saw her friends winking as the door closed behind them, when they reached town hall, flame turned back to her.

"Okay we're here, but before you see, you have to cover your eyes" he said looking at her, twilight raised her eyebrow, in a suspicious manor, but flame just laughed, "it's a surprise" he said, when she closed her eyes, he made sure she wasn't looking, by waving his hoof in her face, when he was content, he grabbed her hoof, and gently led her, to their destination.

When they finally arrived, he turned back to her, "okay, you can open them" he said with a smile, when she did, she gasped, before them, lay a table, neatly designed, just for them. When she turned back to him, she saw a wide smile on his face, "happy birthday, twilight" he said as he took his seat, twilight gladly joined him, "how did you do this, it must have been expensive?" she said looking around, "well, I wanted to make it special" he said while smiling, all she could do was smile back.

(Later…)

After spending the day, telling each other stories and jokes, the sun was finally setting, nearly ending twilights perfect day, "flame I can't thank you enough, you have been so kind" twilight said after finishing her dinner, "oh…speaking of which, I need to give you your second gift" he said reaching under the table, twilight was about to speak, but was stopped, when flame pulled out, a small black box, twilight gasped when she saw it.

"here, it's for you" flame said as he pushed it to the other side, twilight lifted it off the table, and opened it with her magic, what she saw inside shocked her beyond belief, she levitated the contents out in front of her, she saw a small gold chain, with a small golden heart on it, "oh my!...flame its beautiful, I'll never take it off, thank you" she said slipping it over her neck.

"think nothing of it, wow…its really getting late, I think we should head back" he said, twilight while slightly disappointed, agreed and sat up from the chair, after flame paid for the dinner they made their way back to the library, when they got there, twilight turned back to flame.

"Flame, thank you, this has been the best night of my life, I only wish I could repay you with something" twilight said looking down at the ground sadly, flame smiled and lifted her chin up, and looked into her eyes, "you being happy is all I need" he said with a gentle smile, but it didn't convince twilight.

"still, you have done so much for me and my friends, not to mention you saved our lives, it just seems unfair, please let me repay you" twilight said in a begging tone, flame smiled, "it's not my birthday, it's yours" he said while looking away, but he couldn't say no.

"please flame, allow to repay everything you did for me and my friends" she said with a smile on his face, instead of arguing Flame just nodded his head, "close your eyes" she said in hushed tone as she stared him in the eyes.

He eyed her suspiciously, but decided to play along, he slowly closed his eyes, and waited for his reward, which he still felt, was hardly necessary, as he waited, he was tempted to open his eyes, but suddenly he felt, something press up to his lips, he didn't know what it was, but it felt good to him.

Curiosity got the better of him, he slowly opened his eyes, and saw twilight lightly pressing her lips up to his, it momentarily shocked him, but he decided to ignore it, suddenly she pulled away, much to flames disappointment, she then looked him in the eyes, "thanks again, flame" she said as she turned around, "any time" he said with a shocked face, when she noticed he wasn't following, she turned around and smiled.

"well you coming, or are you going to stand there and freeze to death, it's supposed to be cold" she said as she walked into the library, he quickly looked at the ground and sighed, he then looked up with a solemn expression, and walked in after her, even if it meant dealing with the consequences.

It was then that he realized, he had to stop this, even if it meant betraying his master, he had to protect twilight at all costs, he could no longer deny it, he was deeply in love with twilight sparkle, and he was willing to do whatever it takes to protect her.

As the door closed behind them, both unaware of the two sets of eyes, that had been watching them the whole time, they were both shocked at what they saw, they turned and looked at each other, they then jumped off the roof, and made their way slowly back into the darkness of the everfree forest.

**A/N: wow that was certainly interesting, tune in next time, to find out how it all goes down.**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: now thing get especially interesting, enjoy.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 8: lies and deceit**

After flame spent the night with twilight, he knew he had to stop skyfall and arrow, even if it meant betraying the guild, he found a better life, and he wanted to spend it hear in ponyville, with twilight.

The next day, he left early, for a brisk walk around town, he spent the morning, planning his escape, the hardest part would be telling them, he was an assassin himself, and he was originally sent to kill them, he knew that it was going to be hard.

As he continued to walk through the streets of ponyville, he felt he was being watched from somewhere, he decided to ignore it and continue walking, "I have to do this, and I can't let her suffer" he said quietly to himself, when he looked up at the sky, and saw the sun nearly setting, he then realized he had been wandering the streets over half a day, his eyes widened, as he took off in the direction of the library.

When he reached it he burst in the door, panting, he heard a surprised yell, an saw twilight lying on the ground, "flame, you could have at least knocked" twilight said rubbing her head, in order to ease the pain, but flame paid no attention, and rushed over to her and helped her up, "sorry twilight, but we need to go, now" he said as he turned back to the door.

"What, but why?" she asked completely confused, "it's them, the assassins, they're back, and they are coming for you and your friends, we need to get out of here now" he said hurrying her along, but she didn't buy it, "wait, I thought you said, everything was okay" she asked suspiciously, at her friends completely different behavior, flame becoming slightly irritated, turned to her, "I was wrong, they are coming I need to get you out of here, and someplace safe".

He said turning to her, she could see he seriousness in his eyes, and instead of arguing more, she simply nodded her head, and made their way to the door, and to rarity's boutique.

(Later…)

After gathering up twilight's friends, they all agreed to meet at sweet apple acres; luckily for them; big Macintosh and granny smith, left for the day, leaving the entire barn to them, when they all arrived, flame took one last look at the sky, and saw the sun had nearly set, now he was really panicking.

Then twilights friends, all gathered around him, "so, do you mind telling us, why we are here?" an impatient rainbow dash said, she was interrupted by twilight and flame, during her practice session, and she wasn't happy about it, "calm down rainbow, ah am sure flame brought us here for good reason" applejack said defending her friend.

"thank you, it's like I told you all, the assassins are back, I need to keep you safe" he said walking past them, "I think we could handle ourselves" rainbow dash said, flying into the air, but flame knew better, he looked rainbow in the eyes, "you don't understand, they are stronger than you think, they will catch you, you need my help" he said looking her dead in the eyes, this comment caught all their attention, "wait, how come you know so much about them?" rarity asked curiously, they all looked at him, sweat began to slowly pour down his forehead, as they all stared at him, he sighed, "look there's, something you need to know about me, I haven't been entirely truthful with you girls" he said walking around, back and forth.

This seemed to surprise them all, especially twilight; "go on, you were saying" twilight said curiously, flame tried to suppress the truth, "look we don't have time, we need to leave now" he said as he turned, but was stopped when he heard the door to the barn open, and then a bone chilling laugh, that only he recognized, one that made his blood freeze over.

Twilight and her friends turned around, they saw three ponies walking into the room, "ah, at last we meet the famous twilight sparkle face to face, such an honor it is" said the leader, as he removed his hood, revealing an elder pony, with almost completely black fur color, and a silvery mane.

"Who are you?" twilight asked trying to sound brave, but it didn't fool him, "my name is skyfall, leader of the assassins guild, it's an honor to meet the elements of harmony, in the flesh" he said taking a partial bow.

"Wait, you know who we are?" twilight asked, when she did, skyfall got in the upright position, and looked her in the eyes, "of course, we know who you all are, that is why we are here, if you will kindly follow us" he said in an inviting tone, but twilight didn't trust him, "what if we don't?" applejack asked, ready for a fight.

Skyfall simply laughed, "well if you don't, we will just have to find a way to convince you, or do we have to do this the hard way, if you care for your own well-being, and this pathetic little town, I highly suggest you do as we say" he said in a calm tone, this comment made them all mad, "hey!, nopony insults ponyville" said rainbow dash as she took off in the air, and straight towards skyfall, but was stopped by applejack, grabbing the end of her tail, lightly, and pulling her back, "whoa there, just calm down" applejack said, trying to stop rainbow dash, from making a big mistake.

Skyfall saw this and laughed, "I would do as your friend says, before your action, leads to somepony getting hurt, now follow us" he said more serious now, this time twilight stepped forward, "who's going to make us, you?" she said confident, but was shocked when skyfall just chuckled, and looked her in the eyes, "no not me, miss sparkle,…him" he said pointing his hoof behind them, when twilight realized what he was pointing at, she heard the sound of an arrow, being pulled back on a crossbow.

When they all turned around, they saw none other than flame, pointing a crossbow at them, a sad look in his eyes, he slowly moved his way around twilight and her friends "I'm so sorry" he said, avoiding twilight's shocked and tear full gaze, he feared looking in her eyes, it was too much.

Skyfall laughed, when he saw the look in twilights eyes, he then turned to flame, who had a sorrow filled expression on his face, "you have done well, my young apprentice" skyfall said, as he turned back to twilight, he then said, "now then, are you coming, or do you need more provocation" he said as he turned, his forces than surrounded them, and slowly marched them out of the barn, they had lost any reason to fight, the one pony who swore to protect them, had betrayed them, it broke their hearts and crushed their spirits, but none more so than twilight.

When they had all been gathered up, they vanished in a bright flash, flame sighed as he suppressed his tears, he then walked up to skyfall, who was talking to arrow, "excuse me, master, but where are we taking them" he said curiously, skyfall, excused arrow, who walked of in a different direction, "well, we are taking them to our mountain stronghold, arrow tells me, you were distracted during this mission, but you pulled through and made the right choice, as a reward, I will let you be the one to kill them, come along, we have work to do" skyfall said walking ahead, flame looked at the ground sadly, and followed his master, they then vanished in a bright flash, and were gone.

**A/N: scenes like this always make me sad, but they are good none the less, hope you enjoyed, tune in next time, to find out what flame does, and if they will forgive him.**


	10. Chapter 9

**A/N: this is probably the half-way point in the story, so enjoy**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 9: the fateful decision**

After twilight and her friends were transported, to the assassin's mountain stronghold, they were put in a cell until; skyfall said otherwise, much to flames disapproval, but he had to listen to his master.

Soon after, arrow met up with skyfall, to discuss, flames behavior, and how to solve it. "sir, its time, he has become weak, if he stays like this, he might betray us, just like his parents did, we have to stop it now, before it's too late, and he ruins the entire plan" arrow said trying to convince skyfall, he didn't answer, but just looked on at the map, "we have what we need, he is no longer of use to us" arrow said, while walking forward.

Skyfall sighed, and turned around and looked arrow in the eyes, "indeed you are right, we have what we need…very well, I give you permission, to dispose of him anyway you please" skyfall said looking at the ground, but he knew it had to be done, when he said it, arrow smiled, "I'll take care of him myself" he said as he turned and left, when the door closed behind him, skyfall turned back to the map.

Flame found himself, in the security room, he glanced at the computer screens, and zoomed in on the holding cell, in which twilight and her friends were being kept him, he sighed heavily, as tears began to form in his eyes, "I'm so sorry, twilight, I should have told you the truth" he said as a single tear slipped down his cheek, he knew that they would probably never forgive him, he knew he had to live with his mistake, and it was one he will regret for the rest of his life.

He was interrupted from his thoughts, when he heard the door open behind him, he didn't have to look and see who it was, he already knew, "such a pity, flame, she really was rather beautiful, but even if she lives through this, which she won't, she probably won't ever forgive you, it's tragic really" arrow said in a fake sympathetic tone, his only response was, an irritated sigh from flame.

"what is it you want now arrow" flame asked while still facing the console, "oh me, nothing really, I just came here to tie up a few loose ends" he said in a devious tone, which caught flames attention, he was about to ask what he meant, but he heard the faint sound of arrow being pulled back on a crossbow, instead of turning around, flame used, a technique he remembered from training and quickly dodged to the left, barely missing an arrow, that hit the console, instead of its primary target.

When he got back up, he saw arrow reloading, and shoot another, also easily avoided, when he saw that it failed, he threw it down and took off in the air, and went up behind flame, he then went full force, and knocked flame into the wall, when he attempted to do it again, he saw flame getting up, and charged head long, but flame expected this.

When arrow was a mere few inched apart, he brought his hoof across his face, he then grabbed him, and pushed him up against the wall, and unsheathed his knife, and put it to arrows throat, arrow still half stunned, notice this and laughed, which surprised flame.

"you're not going to kill me flame" arrow said while half laughing and half chocking, "why not, I have killed other ponies before, so what makes you think, that I won't kill you" flame said tightening his grip, on arrows neck, causing him to gasp for air.

"because I know the truth" he said while trying to breath in air, flame was surprised by this and loosened his grip, enough for him to breath, but not escape, "what truth would that be?" flame asked now curious, "what really happened that night, all those years ago, you see, it wasn't what you thought it was, let me tell you something about your beloved master, he was the one that killed your family, not the royal guard, as you believed" suddenly he was cut off, by flame tightening his grip again, "now that's ridiculous, why would he do it?" flame asked, an angry look in his eyes.

Arrow chuckled, even though his loss of air, "if you will let me finish" he said, flame decided to let him finish, "you may not believe it, but a long time ago, your father, used to be skyfall's right hoofed pony, just like me, but he became weak, when he met your mother, both of them, were a part of the guild, your mother was a medic, when they fell in love, they decided to leave this life behind, but we both know, once an assassin always an assassin, what made it worse, they both told the princess and the royal guard of our plans and location, which set back our plans by years" he said with a weak voice, but still loud enough for flame to hear.

"we had to wait, till we regained our forces, and then we, tied up some loose ends, skyfall murdered your parents, tortured them, until they begged for death, and he kindly obliged, the he murdered your older brother, being untrained it was rather easy, but when he got to you, something changed in him, he couldn't bear the thought of killing you like the rest, he decided that you would be too young to remember, so he took you in, made you his apprentice, and blamed it on, the royal guard, so that you would do his bidding, and so you did, you're nothing but his slave, his pawn, your nothing more than a dog, just waiting to be put out of his misery" arrow said, as he laughed.

Flame couldn't believe what he was hearing, the pony he thought of as a father, killed his family, used him, and is now going to kill him too, but he wouldn't let that happen, he turned back to arrow, who had a sick smile on his face, "you're right about one thing arrow, I'm not going to kill you, but I am going to do this" he said as he head butted arrow in the face, knocking him out cold, he then threw his body to the side and ran out the door, and to the armory, he had things to do.

(Assassins guild, prison cell)

After their arrival, twilight and her friends were thrown into a steel prison, and guarded, by two assassins, twilight herself hadn't spoken a word since their arrival, she just lay in the corner, "how come none of us saw this coming, why would he do this" rarity said, pacing impatiently back and forth, "what's going to happen to us?" fluttershy asked nervously, "ah don't know, but twilight seems to be taking the worst of it" applejack said as she got up and walked over to the crying unicorn.

Twilight noticed her friends presence, but did nothing about it, "twilight, it's not your fault, you can't beat yourself up, none of us saw this coming, how could any of us, know that flame would lie and betray us" applejack said trying to comfort her depressed friend, the very mention of his name, upset her even more, but she turned around and looked at applejack, with tear filled eyes, "I know, but I can't help it, it is my fault for trusting him" twilight said as she did her best to dry her eyes, applejack was about to speak, but was cut off when they heard the guards from outside the door, cry out in pain and surprise, the only sounds they heard was that of clanging metal, struggling, cries of pain, and finally the sound of a knife piercing flesh, then silence.

Suddenly, they heard the lock, become released and the door open, revealing a masked pony, with a bloody knife in one hoof, when he walked into the room, applejack was about to ask, who he was, but before she could, he charged forward, his knife at the ready, they cried out in terror, as he lunged at them with the knife, but instead they heard the sound of metal hitting metal.

They turned and saw him with the knife firmly planted in the lock of the cage, he twisted it to the left, and the door popped open, he then walked in and walked up to twilight, who was cowering in the corner, but instead of harming her, he helped her up, "who are you?" she asked, with tear filled eyes, instead of answering, he put his hoof to his mouth and made a hushing sound, he then walked up to the gate, and motioned them to follow him.

When they all exited, the masked pony turned around, and was met by a buck to the face, from applejack, which sent him flying into the wall, when he landed with a loud thud, and a groan he looked up and spoke, "is that how you treat a pony, that just saved your lives" he said getting up, "hah, you really thought we didn't think it was you, flame" she said in a fighting position, apparently she was the only one thought, it was him, her statement caught all her friends off guard.

The masked pony sighed, and reached up and took of his mask, confirming applejack's suspicion, indeed it was flame himself, just seeing him, made all twilights friends, agitated, except for twilight herself, who just stared at him, expressionless.

"why you, traitor" yelled rainbow dash, as she took off after flame, but was again stopped by applejack, "wait let me explain, I wouldn't have come here if it wasn't important, but believe me when I say. I am here to help" he said in an honest tone, but the others didn't buy it, "why should we trust you, you lied and betrayed us" applejack said almost yelling, as she charged forward, flame, not wanting to harm her, he didn't fight back, she collided with him, and pinned him to the wall, when she did that she, put her hoof, against his throat, nearly choking him.

"because right now, I am the only one on this base, who isn't trying to kill you, please I know the way, you would get lost and captured, or worse killed, I have my reasons for doing this, please let me help you, I've changed" he said slowly losing his voice, due to the lack of oxygen, from applejack constricting his throat, applejack didn't believe one second of it, she felt good about what she was doing, until she heard a voice from behind her.

"let him go applejack" twilight said from behind, when she said that all her friends gasped, even flame himself, was surprised, even after what he did to them, applejack turned her head back to her friend, "are you crazy, remember what he did, he lied to us" applejack said, not letting up on his throat, but twilight remained calm, "he's right, he knows the way out, he can help, just let him speak" twilight said more forcefully, applejack turned back to flame, who was nearly suffocating at this point, she hesitantly released him, and he fell to the ground, gasping for air, applejack walked back to twilight, an looked her in the eyes, "I hope you know what you are doing" she asked as she turned around and faced flame, as he got back up and rubbing his neck, "like I said, I'm not asking you to trust me, just give me a chance, to correct, the things I have done, after that you'll never have to see me again" he said she turned to twilight, who neither had an angry expression or a happy one.

Suddenly, the room was filled with a bright red light, and an ear piercing alarm, "oh no…come on lets go" he said as he ran out the door, and down the hallway, quickly followed by twilight and her friends.

As they made their way through the corridor, avoiding reinforcements, they ducked into a room, in order to evade a passing patrol, "where are we going?" twilight asked in the dark, "there's an air ship, in the hangar bay, if we can get to it, I can fly it, and we can go out of here, once we get to canterlot, we can warn the princess, and stop them from completing their plans" he said as he looked out the door, when he saw it was clear, he motioned for them to follow him.

As they continued to make their way, through the halls, "the hangar bay, isn't far come on" as they sped up, when they turned a corner, and continued running, suddenly another pony came running, down the hall, in front of them, flame recognized him immediately, "flame is that you, thank celestia, I found you" he said as he walked forward, but in response, flame brought up the crossbow, and aimed it straight at him, much to the other ponies surprise.

"wait flame, it's me, skywind, your partner and best friend" he said while not moving, "sorry, skywind I don't want to hurt you, just move" flame said in a serious tone, but his friend was persistent, "flame, I want to help, please, I'll help you, get out" he said trying to convince his friend, "I'm sorry skywind, but I can't trust anypony, in the guild not even you" flame said while still holding the crossbow.

Suddenly they heard two voices from behind, "hold it right there!" they turned around and saw two guards charging at them, flame quickly turned around and pointed the weapon at the guards, but before he pulled the trigger, two arrows flew past his head, and hit the both the guards in the chest, killing them instantly, when they turned around, he saw skywind holding a crossbow, flame instantly knew he was wrong, "how many times have I saved you, I'll follow you any day, plus I want to get out of here as well" he said, flame smiled and the eight of them continued down the hall.

When they finally made their way into the hangar bay, they saw a massive airship, docked, but ready for departure, flame used his magic, to open the door, as they hurried up the ramp, they were stopped, by the sound of an arrow, being loaded on a crossbow, when they looked up, they saw a female Pegasus, pointing a crossbow, at flame, "stop right there, flame, you have gone too far" she said, flame recognized her, as his second squad partner, faith.

"faith please, don't do this, let us through, you know you won't shoot me, just put it down" flame said looking her in the eyes, at first she didn't listen, but then flame noticed, the change in her eyes as she lowered the weapon, and stood to the side, "thanks, faith, you're the best, and if they ask, I had no choice, but to incapacitate you" he said as he pecked her on the cheek, and ran up the ramp, after his friend, "yeah whatever, I still think you're crazy, but you go, I'll make sure to cover you, now go" she said in a kind tone, and ran of the ramp, and back into the facility, he smiled and made his way to the bridge, when he go there, he saw skywind, already starting it up, when he turned the final key, the area shook, as the engines on the side, roared to life, shortly after the ship slowly lifted off the ground, but there were knocked to the side, when the whole ship moved slightly to the right, when flame looked out the window, he saw that they were getting, hit by, energy blasts, most likely coming from unicorns.

Soon they balanced out, and moved forward, out of the cave, in which they were hidden, they eventually got out of the cave, and out of firing range, and were soon headed to canterlot, as they left, arrow himself, came and saw them leaving, he growled quietly to himself, he turned around and walked back into the base.

He quickly reached skyfall's quarters, and opened the door, to see him, looking over the large map on the wall, "what is going on out there, arrow" he asked impatiently, "sir, flame has escaped, with twilight and her friends, and to make it worse, skywind, helped them" arrow said, anger slowly rising in his voice, skyfall said nothing, and calmly walked over to his desk, suddenly he yelled, "shit!, how could you let this happen, maybe I trusted the wrong one, to be my second in command, if you couldn't even stop him" skyfall yelled in arrows face.

"sir with all due respect, I underestimated him, but it won't happen again" arrow said with confidence, skyfall turned and looked him in the eyes again, "correct, it won't happen again, if it does, and he doesn't kill you, I certainly will, now ready the troops, we need to make a few adjustments to our plans" skyfall said, with an evil glare.

**A/N: wow…that was pretty intense, well hope you liked it, and come back next time.**


	11. Chapter 10

**A/N: it took me awhile to wright this chapter, so I hope you all enjoy.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 10: the plan**

It had been over an hour since flame made the choice to help twilight and her friends, in his mind he hasn't regretted it, not since arrow told him the truth about what happened to his family, he had his own personal vendetta against his former master.

Twilight and her friends had remained on the other side of the bridge, talking amongst themselves, as flame kept the ship on course; his plan is to warn canterlot, and the princess, so that they might get the fighting chance against the guild.

He was brought from his thoughts, when he heard a set of hooves come up behind him, "flame, do you know where we are going?" he heard twilight asked as continued to keep the ship on its course, "we are going to canterlot, you need to warn the princess of the guild's plan" he said not turning to face her, he heard nothing but silence on her end, until she spoke again.

"why, why did you help us, more importantly why did you do it, if you were going to help us later on, what happened to you flame?" twilight asked with curiosity evident in her voice, flame just sighed and turned to the counsel, and flipped a switch, suddenly the whole ship, seemed to rattle slightly, he then turned to face her, she could see the sadness in his eyes, as he opened his mouth to speak.

"It's like I said before, my parents were killed when I was young, murdered in cold blood, I was found by skyfall, he took me in, raised me as his own, he told me that it was the royal guard that killed my family, and so he trained me, gave me the strength to avenge them, but now I realize that it was all a lie, he did it, he killed them, and used me, for his own personal gain, I still can't believe I was blind, I could have stopped this years ago, many ponies have died because of me" he said nearly crying.

Twilight put a hoof on his shoulder, in an attempt to comfort him, "it's not your fault, he deceived you all your life, that's something you can't change now, but you can make things right" she said looking him in the eyes, "your right, I am going to do what it takes to stop him" he said with a small hint of anger in his voice.

(Canterlot castle, royal guard headquarters)

A radio operator, was sitting at his desk, busy napping in his chair, his job was boring, nothing ever happened, his job was to monitor the skies over canterlot, but nothing ever happened, until now.

He was awoken to a low beeping sound, when he looked up from his chair, and at the screen, he saw a blip, on the radar, his eyes widened as he sat up and started rummaging through the file cabinets, "that can't be, there's no patrol out now" he said to himself, it was then that he realized, that it was no practice, he quickly shoot out of his office, and zoomed to the captain's desk.

When he took the elevator up, he quickly ran down the hall, when he saw the captain, he was talking to some of his lieutenants, he skidded to a halt in front of them, catching their attention, "yes what is it?" the captain asked, with a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Sorry to disturb you, captain shining armor, but we have a problem" he said trying to regain his former composure, this particular comment caught his attention; he then excused his lieutenants, and walked in front of the private, "what did you say, private?" shining armor said a serious tone, the private, swallowed hard, but answered none the less.

"We have an incoming ship, and it doesn't register in the fleet" he said with a hint of nervousness in his voice, "show me" he said, the private nodded and made his way back to his station, at a fast pace, when they arrived, he stepped to the side, and showed the captain, when he looked, his eyes widened, and he turned to the private, "contact them on the radio, we need to know if they are friendly, and if not, we blow them out of the sky" shining armor said with an angry look on his face.

(The falling star, bridge)

While flame returned to steering the ship, twilight went back to talk with her friends and tell them the plan, suddenly the bridge was filled, with a loud voice, that surprised them all.

"_attention unknown aircraft, you are entering canterlot airspace, identify yourself, or we will use deadly force" _they heard the voice say, twilight and her friends all walked up to him, followed by his friend sky wind, he looked at them, and then turned to the radio and hit the switch.

"Roger that, this is the captain of the falling star, we request permission to land, do you copy, watch tower" he said into the speaker, is only response, was static on the other line, they waited for a few minutes, "what are they going to do?" a worried fluttershy asked, "well considering, that this ship, isn't a part of the royal air force, and that we are armed, with dozens of canons on each side, it is hard to say" skywind said in a dark tone.

Finally a voice spoke from the other line, _"attention captain, this is shining armor, captain of the royal guard, we read you loud and clear, you are cleared for landing at canterlot air field, we will meet you there" _and with that the line went dead, and was replaced by full static.

When twilight heard the voice, identify itself, her eyes widened, her reaction, surprised flame and skywind, he turned and looked at her, "what it, are you okay twilight" flame asked with concern, she shook off her shocked look, and turned to him, "yeah…I'm fine, it's just that, shining armor is my brother, with everything going on, I never told you" she said, looking her friend in the eyes , this threw flame and skywind completely of guard, they looked at each other with worried expressions, on their faces.

(Canterlot air field, runway)

As shining armor and a hoof full, of guards waited, they saw the massive ship, coming towards them, slowly descending, he tuned to his guards, and motioned for them to be ready, when it touched down, the ramp landed perfectly in front of them, after it fully landed, the massive engines slowed to a halt.

Shining armor turned his attention back to the ramp, suddenly a loud hissing sound came from the ship, as the ramp slowly descended, when it fully opened, the guard behind him, all pointed their spears and crossbows, when the smoke cleared, he saw a face, he recognized all too well.

"shining armor, it's so good to see you" a overjoyed twilight said, as she ran down the ramp, to her surprised brother, who had a wide mouth, when she jumped embraced him, it shook him out of his surprised state, he looked down at her, and returned her hug.

"Hey, it's good to see you too, twilight, but what in celestia's name, are you doing here, more importantly in that" he said gesturing to the air ship, behind her, she looked him in the eyes, and sighed, as she stood up, "we're in trouble, we need your help shining armor" she said, with regret and sorrow in her voice, "of course, anything I can do to help, what do you need" he said in a happy tone.

"we encountered the assassins guild, they took us, to their hideout, in the mountains, they were probably going to kill us, but then our friend here saved our lives" she said in a solemn tone, "you what!...but how, the guild has been a major problem, for the past few years, but how did you get caught in all this?" he said with major concern in his voice, she looked up at him, and sighed.

"shining armor, this is flame, he helped us escape" she said gesturing towards the unicorn standing behind her, when shining armor and flame made eye contact, shining's smile disappeared, he gently pushed twilight to the side, and walked up to him, he slowly began making a circle around him, flame could fell sweat trickling down his face, as the captain made his way in front of him, again and looked him in the eye's.

Suddenly he turned, and yelled, "seize him!" he said, after he did, they guards, all formed a circle around flame and skywind, who were forced back to back, knives' at the ready, twilight turned to her brother, "no don't shining, I told you he helped us escape, he saved our lives" twilight said with a mix of worry and anger in her voice.

"Maybe you don't know who he is, he is flame, the apprentice of the guild's master, and he's far too dangerous to be kept alive" he said raising his hoof, about to give the kill order, but was stopped by flame, "you mean, ex apprentice, I owe no allegiance to the guild anymore, they betrayed me" flame said still in a fighting position, shining armor, turned back to his sister.

"Fine, I trust you, but if he tries anything, I won't be so lenient" he said with a sigh, he motioned for the guards to lower their weapons, "thank you, we need to speak to the princess's, we have information, on how to stop them" twilight said with a sigh of relief, "very well, they just got out of a meeting, I will take you too them" he said stepping to the side, and letting them pass, he didn't break eye contact with flame as he passed by, they quickly made their way back to the castle.

(Canterlot castle, main corridor)

Twilight and her friends had remained quiet, as shining armor led them, through the castle, and up to the throne room, twilight noticed her brother had remained unusually quiet, so she decided to ask him a simple question.

"oh, shining armor, I forgot to ask, how is cadence?" she asked looking up to her brother, who remained focused, until she interrupted his thoughts, he turned to her, with a warm smile on his face, "oh…she fine, unfortunately, she also had to partake in the meeting, sitting there listening to the delegates argue, isn't her favorite thing in the world" he said with a laugh, this also made twilight join in.

Suddenly they stopped, when they reached a large door, one that twilight knew, was the door that led to the castle throne room, shining armor sighed, and pushed the large door opened, and calmly walked inside.

The first thing they saw, was the princess herself, sitting calmly in her throne, obviously deep in thought, when they were a mere few yards from the steps, she opened her eyes, as if barely noticing their entrance, but she smiled none the less.

"twilight, it is always a pleasure to see you and your friends, and shining armor, I trust everything is fine, at the air field" she said turning her attention to the captain, "everything is fine, but that is not why we are here, we have new information, that might help us, finally apprehend the assassins guild, once and for all" he said in a serious, but calm tone.

This comment, quickly caught the princesses, attention she rose from her throne, and calmly descended the stairs until she was standing in front of shining armor, "what might that be?" she asked in an equally serious tone, instead of answering, shining armor looked up at her, and then stepped to the side, and motioned for flame to step forward, so he could tell her directly.

As flame stepped up, he was sweating, drops of sweat, rolled down his face, as he gave the best bow, he could, in front of her, she noticed his, nervousness, and spoke calmly to him, "who might you be?" she asked in a calm tone as she looked the strange unicorn up and down, "your highness, my name is flame, and as you might have guessed, I am the one who has the information, you require, to defeat the guild, permanently" he said as he got up from his position, and looked her in the eyes.

The princess gave him a suspicious look, as she returned his gaze, "tell me flame, how did you come across this information, surely not by accident" the princess said as she began to walk a circle around him, "it's kind of a long story" he said growing more nervousness, "but long stories are the best kind" she said as she walked past him, and up to the window.

"well, it might surprise you, but I was a member, not only that, but I was the master's apprentice, up until earlier today, when I found out, that he killed my parents, and used me like a pawn, to do his bidding, my only wish, is to set things right, and undo what I have done wrong, they are planning a massive invasion force, and it is planned to attack canterlot, but I believe, that we managed to set the plan back by a few days, it might give us a chance to stop them, if we launch a counter offensive, I know the location of their main base, I could be of great help" he said with a straight face.

At first the princess didn't answer, which made his nervousness grow more, until she finally spoke, "you're sure of this" she said turning to face him, "unfortunately, I am your highness, the guild's army, rivals, that of even, the equestrian military, if we don't act now, it might be too late" he said in a worried voice, the princess walked up to him, and looked him in the eyes, "very well, you have my support, shining armor, make preparations for the air force, I will do what I can to convince the delegates" she said, with a smile on her face, it only made flame smile in response, "thank you, princess" he said, his nervousness disappearing, as he followed the princess out of the room.

(Later…)

Flame and skywind, had finished explaining to the royal court, their plan, and thanks to the princess's negotiating skill, they managed to win them over, the overall plan, was to send an army, from canterlot, to the guild's mountain stronghold, capture the base, and apprehend arrow and skyfall, and then it would all be over, but they had other plans.

Flame and skywind, were inside the castle barracks, packing supplies, they didn't plan on being in the invasion, they had other things to do, "remind me again, why are we leaving, we are the ones who came up with this plan, we should see it through to the end" skywind said as he packed a sack full of food, "because, I made a promise, and I intend to keep it" flame said, not looking at his friend, as he holstered his knife, and put on his pack.

Skywind was about to speak, but was interrupted, by the door opening and a familiar unicorn walking in, "flame, where are you going, how come you aren't staying?" a sad twilight asked, knowing his answer, "you know why, I made you and your friends a promise, and I'm keeping it" he said, as he walked past her, "but you are the one, who knows everything, we can't do this without you" twilight said turning back to face him.

"No, I gave all the information, you needed, to shining armor, he knows the plan" he said nearly reaching the door, "but…I don't want you to leave" twilight said, in a sad tone, this made flame stop in his tracks, and an awkward silence to fill the room, nopony spoke, so skywind decided to break to silence, "um…this is awkward for me, so I'm going to leave you to talk alone" he said as he ran past flame, and closed the door behind him, leaving the two unicorns alone to talk.

Flame sighed and turned around, to look her in the eyes, he saw the faintest hint of tears in her eyes, and it simply broke his heart, "I already forgave you, ever since you helped us escape, please don't go flame, we need you, you are the only one who can possibly help, you know everything, please stay for me" twilight said in a caring voice, flame felt tears spill from his eyes, he just shrugged the pack off, much to twilight's joy.

She ran up to him, and placed her hooves around his neck, and hugged him, something he happily returned, when they let go, he looked into her eyes.

"Thanks twilight, now come on, we have work to do" he said as he ran out the door, quickly followed by twilight.

(Canterlot castle, royal guard headquarters)

After shining armor, left the meeting, he immediately, set up preparations, he quickly called for twilight and her friends, followed by both princess's , and none other than his wife, who had all gathered at a map, he had laid out.

"okay, all we know from flame's, report, is that the guild's main headquarters, is somewhere here, in the mountains, north of here" he said looking at all the ponies, who had gathered around, "do we know how many there are?" cadence asked, as she turned to her husband, shining armor shook his head, "that is what we don't know, or where it is exactly located" he said with a sigh, his only rely was a large amount of groans, from all the ponies, even his wife.

But before he could speak again, suddenly the door flew open, and in walked a smiling flame, quickly followed by, twilight and skywind, "I believe that Is where I come in" he said taking his spot at the table, shining armor smiled at him, and said "glad to see you stayed, okay then, what we need to know, is where is it, how many are we dealing with, and how heavily defended it is" he said looking across at flame.

"well for starters, it is located here" he said pointing to a specific spot on the map, "as for how heavily is it guarded, it is our main base, of course it is heavily defended, but if we catch them by surprise, as for how well defended it is, the technology of the guild, is far greater than the military's, overall the base is heavily defended, complete with anti-air cannons, planted in the mountain side, any more questions" he said looking around the table.

"Seems to me like a suicide mission" shining armor said, looking at him, with a half serous, half shocked face, flame simply chuckled, "well that depends on how you look at it, but believe me, if we catch them by surprise, we can overwhelm them, before they manage to escape" flame said looking from the map, to the captain, "what about the leaders?" shining armor said, getting over his shock, flame's smile disappeared, as he looked up from the map, "leave them to me" he said with a serious face.

Shining armor looked his dead in the eyes, and laughed, "I still think you are crazy, but since you know so much, I guess I have to listen to you, lieutenant, get the sir ships ready, and rally the troops" he said turning around, and looking at one of the soldiers, "yes sir" he said as he took off in another direction.

"alright then, let's get to it, but twilight, I need you and your friends to stay here" he said turning to face his little sister, much to her disappointment, "what, but why, I can help" she said, in an angry tone, "please, it's for your own good, it's far too dangerous, for you to enter a war zone" he said looking at his sister, but she didn't but it, until flame spoke up, "he is right twilight, it is dangerous, you and your friends will be better off here, do it for us, we will be back" he said placing a hoof on her shoulder.

Twilight knew she couldn't win, so she sighed and nodded, flame and shining armor, both looked at each other, and walked off in the other direction, as twilight and her friends were escorted by guards to a safe place, were the princess's would also be placed.

**A/N: well that was exciting, we grow closer to the end now, my friends, see you next time.**


	12. Chapter 11

**A/N: well I'm back, here's the next chapter.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 11: first strike**

All the forces, under shining armor's command, had gathered at the air field, and received their assigned ships, there was a lot of activity on the strip, as the ships was loaded with things from, troops, to cannon shells, and there hadn't been a full scale mobilization like this in a long time.

"you know it's funny, never have I order, such a large scale attack before, there hasn't been an event like this in years" shining armor said, as he attempted to smile, he and flame had been walking up the ramp of the lead ship, flame noticed that he was worried about something, "shining armor, listen I know you are worried about twilight, so am I, but she will be fine, trust me" he said trying to comfort him.

"you know, I was wrong about you flame, you are a good guy" he said smiling at him as they left for the bridge, when they arrived, all the soldiers, took their places as, they stepped up to the soldier in charge of the ship, "it's time, lieutenant start the engines, and prepare for take-off" he said as they took their spots behind him.

The room shook to life, as the massive engines, started to turn, as well as the ships behind them, slowly the ship lifted into the sir, and moved forward, and the occupants of the ship, were lightly thrown to the side. As the ship climbed into the sky, "where are we headed, flame" shining armor said as he turned to him, "we need to go north, to the mountains" he said with a serious face.

"Do as he say's" shining armor said the soldier, "yes sir" he said as he turned the wheel of the ship, and it slowly turned to face north.

(Later…)

As the fleet slowly cleared over the ever free forest, the valley, that lead to the guild's HQ was in sight, and flame was getting ever more nervous, "steady as she goes, keep this speed, head straight into that valley" flame said pointing his hoof in the direction, of their destination.

It didn't take long for the ships, to make their way, there, much to flame's surprise, the valley held, all three ships, with plenty of room left over, a dead silence fell over all the ships, as they moved silently through the canyon, flame kept a close look out for any activity, but saw none, much to his suspicion.

After another ten minutes of flying, they still did not encounter any hostiles, finally the silence broke, "something's not right, we should have been spotted by now, or at least taken enemy fire" he said as he observed the landscape, shining armor was about to ask what he meant, but before he could, suddenly the bridge shook violently, knocking them all off their hooves, when they looked up they saw multiple clouds of smoke.

"sir, we're taking enemy fire from below, what are you orders" one of the soldiers said, while trying to keep his balance, "raise the shields, and deploy the troops" shining armor said, as he held onto the post, and tried to keep himself up.

(Lead ship, troop drop off)

The sergeant got the orders from the bridge, and turned to the soldiers behind him, "okay, time to jump!" he yelled as he opened the door, and jumped out and pulled the pin on his parachute, quickly followed by the other troops, who all jumped out, armed with crossbows, and shot at the ponies below.

(Lead ship, bridge)

"Sir, troops are being deployed, and the shields are up" the soldier, from earlier said, as he got back on his hooves, for a third time.

"good, give the order to the other ships, to do the same, and arm the cannons" he said looking at the soldier, "yes sir, attention, all ships, this is the crimson sky, deploy troops, and arm all cannons, your orders are to fire at anything that isn't ours" he yelled into his head set, "is this how you planned it" shining armor said, as he faced flame, who had a plain look on his face, "no, this is different, this isn't right, there should be more of them, I am going down there to find, arrow and skyfall, skywind you're with me, whatever you do, don't stop fighting" flame said as he, ran out the door followed by flame, and back to the drop off.

When they reached the area, they saw one of the troops about to jump, but they stopped him, "are there any more, parachutes left?" he yelled over the roar of the explosions, that went on outside, "no sir, this is the last one" he said as he charged forward, and jumped out the window, flame and skywind ran to the door, and watched the soldier, pull the parachute, only to be shot through the chest, by an oncoming arrow.

Flame covered his eyes and turned away, "okay plan B" he said as he grabbed skywind's hoof and used his magic to teleport them, into the heart of the battle.

When they appeared, the first thing they saw, was hundreds of ponies, clashing in battle, they made their way to the entrance of the facility, but were stopped by four troops, all armed with spears, flame and skywind wen t back to back, as the troops closed in, "just like old times" skywind said, before they, charged forward.

As flame charged toward his two opponents, he saw one of them thrust his spear forward, luckily flame, was prepared, he jumped in the air, and grabbed the end of the spear, and knocked it out of his hooves, when he pulled it away, he swung it around, and hit the enemy soldier, with the blunt end of it, the stick hit him across the face, he fell back, and flame, turned it around, and threw the sharp end of it, at the other soldier, the spear pierced his shoulder, and he fell to the ground screaming in pain.

After flame found skywind, and they ran off into the base.

(Assassin's guild, prison corridor)

As they made their way, through the corridor's, they noticed a large concentration of guards, at one particular door, they turned the corner, and before the guards, had any chance to react, they shot them, with their crossbows, killing them instantly, when they approached the door, and opened it, they saw a familiar face.

"Faith, is that you" skywind said, to a Pegasus, who was sitting on the ground, when she looked up, she smiled and ran to them, "flame, skywind, I'm so happy to see you, but what are you doing here?" she asked, "well, we kind of brought some friends" flame said, with a smile, right when he said that, the room shook, and the light faded in and out for a few seconds, "okay, faith, where is arrow and skyfall?" he said with a serious face again, as he looked at his friend.

"they are in, the war room, don't do it flame, you can't defeat them both" faith said, as she put a hoof on his shoulder, but he took it in his and looked her in the eye's, "I don't plan to, I'm just here to capture them, skywind you take faith and get out of here, report back to shining armor" he said as he ran out the door and down the hall, leaving the two, alone.

"We're going follow him aren't we?" faith said looking up at skywind, he turned to her with a smile on his face, "you bet we are" he said as he took off running, faith hesitated for a moment, and took off running after him.

(Assassin's guild, main corridor)

As flame made his way to, the war room, he noticed that there was not a single guard out, as he approached the door, he breathed a heavy sigh, as he holstered his knife, and crossbow, and pushed open the door.

When he stepped inside, at first he saw nothing, but then the lights flashed on, revealing the massive room, full of computer screens, and maps, and one particular pony in the middle, one that flame recognized all too well.

"Well flame, your treachery knows no bounds, first, you disobey, you master's orders, and then you free our captives, and know this, I never thought you could sink so low" arrow said as he turned and faced him, when he saw the look on flame's face, he laughed.

Flame quickly shook it off as he, faced arrow, "enough! Where is he, where is skyfall" flame said, getting in a fighting stance, arrow smiled and said, "you mean I'm not good enough for you, come now, flame you're hurting my feelings" arrow said in a mocking tone.

" if only you had any" flame said, not letting his guard down, "oh…such a hurtful statement flame, do you kiss your mother with that mouth, oh wait, I forgot you don't have one" arrow said, bursting out in laughter, "stop wasting my time, where is skyfall?" flame asked growing more impatient, with him.

"fine if you must know, he's not even here, did you really think, we didn't expect you to tell the princess of our plan, so we devised a new one, I stay here and wait for you, and your little army, while skyfall, slips, past you, and pay's the capital a visit, in fact he probably just got there now" arrow said, still in a calm position.

"You son of a bitch, I guess I will have to settle with you" flame said as he unsheathed his knife, but arrow simply laughed again, "do you really think you can beat me?" arrow said, still staring at him, "I will do my best" he said as he charged forward, and dove, in the air, time seemed to slow, as he grew closer, to his target, when he was inches away, arrow smiled, and ducked out of the way, and slammed flame in the stomach, causing him to lose the knife, and crash to the floor, and lose the wind from his lungs.

"I really thought you would be more of a challenge, how pathetic" arrow said, as he walked toward flame, and grabbed his knife, after regaining his strength, flame pushed it, into his hooves, and then launched himself, at arrow, which caught him by surprise, and pushed him into the ground, with flame on top.

"Didn't see that one coming, did you?" flame said as he wrestled with his opponent, in order to get the upper hoof, "no I didn't, but it's still not enough, you know I don't play fair" arrow said, as he brought his hoof sharply into flame's stomach, and then striking him across the face, and pushing him off.

When flame landed on the ground, arrow took off into the air, and flew straight at him, before he could react, flame was pushed painfully into a wall, after he did that, arrow struck flame across, the face multiple times, before slamming him, head first into the wall again, after all that, flame was still conscious, but just barely.

His vision was blurred, as he watched arrow pick him up, and fly to the top of the room, he watched as arrow, loosened his grip, suddenly flame felt himself, fall to the ground, the net thing he felt was, the sudden pain, course through his body, as he impacted into the floor, he tried to muster up enough strength to get up, but failed, and watched as, arrow, landed, and walk up to him, he tried to get up again, but failed, when he felt arrow kick him in the side, causing him to roll and cough up some blood.

"oh please, I am barely getting started, but you no fun anymore, time to die, flame" he said as he took out his own knife, and walked up to him, flame looked up at arrow, who seemed to tower over him, he tried to speak but couldn't.

"Say hello, to your dear, bitch of a mother" he said, as he raised the knife, flame closed his eyes, arrow smiled, as he was about to bring the knife down, but before he could, he was suddenly knocked to the side, by an unknown force, and slid to the side, when he looked up, he saw none other than, skywind, holding his knife, instead of going after him, he knelt down, and picked flame, up, who had regained consciousness, and wiped the blood, coming from his mouth and nose.

"Well, two against one, this is hardly fair" arrow said, as he got back up, "it's not, that's why I am facing you alone" skywind said, as he walked towards him, arrow laughed, "really, if flame, couldn't beat me, what makes you think you can" he said, as they circled each other.

Suddenly, skywind charged forward, and swung his blade, at arrow's face, but was easily avoided, arrow turned around, and took out his second knife, skywind charged forward again, in hoping of catching him off guard, but arrow was right, he was a better fighter, and he didn't fight fair.

As he ducked, and avoided, skywind again, and brought his hoof, up into his stomach, and knocked the wind out of him, as he fell to the ground, arrow punched him in the face, and grabbed his knife, and in one swift motion, he plunged the knife deep into skywind's chest ,"NOOOOO!" flame yelled as he watched his friend die, skywind gasped, as he felt the blade inch closer to his heart, he felt arrow's lips go up near his ear, he felt his breath on his ear, as he whispered something.

"You would have had, a great future, if you stayed with us, but you choose this path, and now you will pay for it" he said as he took the knife out, and let him fall to the ground.

Flame looked over to arrow, which was looking over skywind's body, a new power, flared up inside him, as his anger grew to rage, when arrow, turned to him, he said" so sorry for your friend, but don't worry you will see him again soon" he said as he walked towards him, as he got closer, he saw something, in flame's eyes, something that made his blood run cold.

Before he could react, his horn glowed, as he suddenly disappeared, in a bright flash, when it cleared, he saw, that flame was nowhere to be found, he slowly backed up, and looked around, "come on out flame, let's finish this, like real stallions" he said taunting him, he only got his reaction, from sudden surprise weight, on his back, as he felt two hooves, wrap around his neck and pull.

He tried to shack it off, but flame's grip, was too strong, he tried to get him, off by jumping into a wall, with his back facing it, but even that did not shake him, "now you die!" flame yelled before, he twisted, arrow's neck, to the side, harder, arrow felt his throat constricting, and his neck straining, but he still tried to knock him off.

Flame, made the final move, by twisting, arrow's neck harder, he felt the life slip, from him, as he twisted even harder, finally the last thing he heard was the sound of bones breaking, and arrow's head snapped, to the right, and he fell limp, flame looked at his body, at what seemed like hours, before he turned and ran to his injured friend.

When he got there, he lifted his head in his hooves, and put his hoof, on skywind's chest, and tried to stop, the blood from oozing out, but to no avail.

"flame I'm sorry, I failed you" skywind said in a weak voice, as he coughed up blood, "no, no don't talk like that, faith will fix you up, faith!, come on, we need a medic, dammit!" he said as he tried to ease his friends pain, "flame, you know it's too late for me" skywind said, getting weaker, as his eyes slowly began to close.

"no…don't you leave me, you're going to make it, just hang in there" flame said, as his voice grew weaker, "stop kidding me, you know that's not true, look at me" skywind said his voice barely above a whisper, flame turned and looked down at him, "you're like my brother, it has been the greatest honor serving you, not as a soldier, but as a friend, do me one last favor" skywind said tears brimming in his eyes.

"Yeah sure anything" flame said, with tears pouring down his cheek, "kill that bastard for me, tell faith I'm sorry, I always had a crush on her, don't tell her though" skywind said, causing flame to laugh, despite the situation.

Suddenly skywind's breathing became more labored, and flame knew he was dying, and he took his hoof in his, and held it tightly, "permission to die, sir" he asked as his eyes slowly closed, flame lost it at the point, as endless tears poured down his cheeks, and looked at his friend, "permission, granted, now report in heaven soldier, that's an order" he said trying to regain control of his emotions.

With that, skywind gave one last smile as he closed his eyes, and the last breath left his body, and flame knew he was dead, his oldest friend, the one he thought of as a brother, was now dead, skywind's hoof, fell from his, as his head laid still, flame cried for the loss of his friend, he heard the sound of multiple sets of hooves approaching from behind.

He turned around and saw, faith, and shining armor, behind him, tears falling from faith's eyes, "flame, I'm sorry, I should have come here, I could have saved him" she said nearly crying, flame put a hoof on her shoulder, and pulled her into a warm hug, she tightly hugged him back, when he let go he walked back, to arrow's body, and picked up his knife.

"I'm sorry for your loose, flame, but staying here won't fix this, we won, they all retreated, now we can return to canterlot" shining armor said trying to lighten the mood, but it didn't work, "no, we can't" flame said turning top face him, "what do you mean?" shining armor said, confused.

"he told, me that this was all a lie, this was barely a fraction of their real army, the rest, snuck by us, we missed them, they hit us while we weren't looking, it was all a trap, we need to hurry back to canterlot, and stop skyfall, before it's too late" flame said, still wiping the tears from his eyes, "what's the plan then?" shining armor asked growing impatient.

"gather the troops, we're heading back home" flame said with an angry look in his eyes, one that sent a chill up shining armor's spine, he watched as flame walked past him, and out the door, back to the hangar bay.

**A/N: wow that was surely exciting and sad, at the same time, will flame stop skyfall, before it's too late, find out next time.**


	13. Chapter 12

**A/N: we grow closer to the end now, let's see what happens next.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 12: master vs. apprentice**

After flame had killed arrow, the remaining forces under his command, had no choice but to surrender, much to flame and shining armor's relief.

As they again packed up the airships, they had accessed the damage, and again boarded the ships, much to their surprise; all three ship's received very little damage, due to the strong shields, produced, solely from unicorn magic.

Flame and shining armor had been really anxious to get back, after flame received the news from arrow, before he died, they knew they didn't have much time, and wanted to get back in the sir, as soon as possible. Before they knew it, the ships had already cleared the mountains, and were headed in the direction of canterlot.

"Sir, we are approaching, canterlot airfield" the lieutenant, said as he turned to the captain, flame and shining armor leaned forward, as the ship cleared the last corner, of the mountains, and what they saw after that, shocked them, beyond anything they could have imagined.

The first thing they saw, was indeed the equestrian capital of canterlot, but not as they left it, the city lay in ruins, as multiple fire's spread from the city to the castle, when they saw that, the whole ship fell silent, "oh no…twilight, cadence, they're still there" shining armor said in a shocked tone, as tears fell from his eyes.

"Shining armor, calm down, something tells me he wouldn't kill them, not yet, we still have a chance, we can save them, but we need to focus" flame said, trying to calm, the captain down. Shining armor, turned to him, and knew he was right.

"sir, we are detecting enemy aircraft over the capital" one of the soldiers said, after he did, flame and shining armor, turned their attention, back to the city, and saw two massive, battleships, hovering over the land, "sir, they're locking weapons on us!, what are your orders?" the same soldier said, with panic in his voice.

"order the rest of the fleet to engage, and fire at will" shining armor said, turning to the soldiers, in the bridge, quickly flame turned around, and started to walk out, but was stopped by shining armor, "whoa, where are you going?" he asked, impatiently, "I am going to stop skyfall and save twilight, this is all my fault" flame said pushing past him.

"well I'm coming with you, she's my sister, and plus my wife is there, so we are going together" shining armor said, as they walked back together, flame smiled as he stopped, and closed his eyes, suddenly they were covered by a white light, and they disappeared, in a flash.

(Canterlot castle, courtyard)

Flame and shining armor had appeared in the courtyard, behind some bushes, when they peaked out, they saw the area swarming, with soldiers, from the guild.

Something that angered flame even more, but he held it in for now, "there's too many of them, how will we get in?" shining armor asked, he got his answer, when flame pulled him back into a bush as, a guard passed by, suddenly flame pulled the guard into the bush, and brought the knife around his neck.

"no talking, or I will kill you, I just have one question, where the prisoners" he asked the guard, he allowed him enough, breath to speak, but barely above the whisper, "they are in the library, but you won't get to them, you will fail" the guard said, flame looked to shining armor, who nodded, flame then, constricted the guards throat, and he passed out due to lack of oxygen.

Flame looked from the guard to the captain, and turned around, they waited for the right moment, and ran for the entrance, thanks to flame's sneaking skill, and shining armor's knowledge of the castle, they managed to make it inside, without being spotted.

(Canterlot castle, main library)

Applejack, was pacing back and forth, in front of her friends, and the princess's, trying to figure out all that happened, she could hardly believe they were nothing but prisoners again, "I can't believe, we didn't see this coming, they hit us so fast, it's still a blur" she said as she finally stopped in front of her friends.

"Calm yourself, applejack, have faith in flame and shining armor, I am sure they will be here" princess celestia, said in her usual calm tone, despite the situation, "but how can we be sure, maybe the lost" she replied sadly, "we just have to remain patient, for now" Luna said, speaking for the first time.

Suddenly they heard a strange noise, coming from outside the library, to them it sounded like a fight, after a mere few minutes, the room fell silent, and nothing happened.

Quickly the door opened, revealing two ponies, that they knew, all too well, "did somepony, order a rescue mission" flame said with a smile, as he ran forward, and helped them all up, shining armor, immediately, went to his wife, and started asking her questions, much to the other's amusement.

But flame noticed one, particular unicorn was missing, he turned to applejack and said, "Wait, where's twilight?" he asked fearing the worst, applejack sighed sadly, and walked up to him, "flame, he took her, up to, the throne room, I'm sorry flame, we did all we could" she said, trying to comfort him.

Flame looked down, and turned away from them and began walking towards the door, but was stopped again by shining armor, "hey, you aren't going alone, he'll kill you" he said, trying to stop his friend.

"sorry shining armor, but I have to do this, none of us would be here, if it wasn't for me, this is my fight, I may not survive, but I will bring her back, this is between me and him, I have a personal score to settle" flame said as he walked past him, and through the door, shining armor and the other's watched him, as he disappeared, hoping it wouldn't be the last time, that they would see him.

(Canterlot castle, outside the throne room)

As flame approached the massive door's, he knew deep down, that he wouldn't be able to defeat skyfall, but he had no intention, to do so, his only goal was to save twilight, and apprehend him, so he could face justice, for his crimes against equestrian, but he knew it wouldn't be easy.

He breathed in a heavy breath and exhaled, he drew his crossbow out, and gently opened the door, enough for him to squeeze through, when he looked inside, he saw the room only lit by torches that were placed on the wall, the light from the torches' created just enough for him to see, his surroundings, he saw no sign of skyfall anywhere.

He made double sure to check behind him, but still nothing, then he heard a strange noise from in front, when he turned, he saw a tied up twilight at the bottom of the staircase that led up to the princess's throne, he rushed over to her, and unsheathed his knife, and cut the rope's around her hooves and mouth, she gagged as she tried to breath, finally she looked up to him.

Flame was so happy, he pulled her into a warming hug, "are you okay?" he asked her looking in her eyes, "you shouldn't have come, it's a trap" twilight said, and before he could answer, they both heard a bone chilling laugh come from behind them, when they turned around, they saw a familiar face, one that made twilight's blood run cold, but to flame, his anger flared, at the very sight of this pony.

"ah, such a happy reunion, it brings tears to my eyes" skyfall said with an evil grin, as he approached them, flame got up, and helped twilight up as well, flame turned and fully faced him, an equally evil glare in his eyes, if you could look into them, you could see the anger and hate in his eyes.

"skyfall, stop this now, there are innocent ponies dying out there, all because of your selfish goals" flame said to his old master, that comment surprised skyfall, but he smiled none the less, "selfish? I have plans to rebuild this world, make it better, a world where all ponies, live in peace and prosperity, I hardly think, that is a selfish motive" he said standing in a calm position.

"You're willing to go through this, by killing anypony in your path" flame said, with twilight cowering behind him, skyfall simply just laughed, "no victory is without it's sacrifices" he said with a grin, "oh, and I received the news of arrow's death, how can I ever repay you" skyfall said, looking into flame's now shocked eyes, "oh come now, you really didn't expect me to share the power did you, there can be only one ruler,…now that that's out of the way, I'm actually glad you are here, because I am willing to give you the chance, surrender now, and I will give the order, for my fleet to spare the other's lives, and even yours and your little mare-friend, join me, and I will gladly share the power with you, the choice is yours" skyfall said with a serious face.

Flame, looked away and back at twilight, when he looked in her eyes, when she looked at him, he knew what he had to do, so he turned and faced skyfall again, "sorry, I can't live a world, with you running free, as long as you are free, equestrian, and the whole world will be in danger, and I came to stop you, and that's what I'm going to do" flame said with confidence, but skyfall's face remained the same.

Skyfall looked to the side, and sighed, he turned back to flame, "I had hoped you would have made the smarter choice, I'm sorry for this" skyfall said, as he shot a blast of energy from the tip of his horn, and went straight for flame, he pushed twilight out of the way, and turned back to face it, only to be hit, and sent flying up into the throne itself.

Flame tried to shack of the blow, and rise, but found that he couldn't move, suddenly he was thrown in the air, and brought down to skyfall, it was then that he realized, skyfall had him, in a magical grip, one that was too strong for him to break out of, skyfall simply laughed, "you see flame, I may be old, but I am the best fighter in the guild" he said as he threw flame, all the way at the wall, and slammed him into it at full force.

Flame again fell to the ground, and tried, to get up, when he saw skyfall walking up to him, he unsheathed his knife, and jumped, at him, skyfall simply caught him in midair, "come now, do you really think you can beat me" he said as he hit him in the gut, hard enough to break his ribs, and as a result he hit the wall again.

"you would have had, a great future with us, but you choose the wrong path" skyfall said as he picked flame up again with his magic, and threw him all the way across the room to the other side, where he again collided with the wall, as he landed the pain racked his body, he tried to get up, and speak, but fell down.

"but instead you choose to be with her, it sounds like something out a cheap, romance novel, if you ask me" he said she came up to him, and punched him in the face and stomach repeatedly, until flame coughed up blood, and collapsed to the ground, all the while twilight was watching her friend die, she knew she had to do something but what.

Again skyfall used his magic, and threw flame into the middle of the room, "let me tell you how it goes, the common good guy story, bad guy does something bad" he said as he kicked flame in the stomach, "good guy tries to save the day" he said as he repeated the same motion, "bad guy gets defeated" he said as he picked up flame and punched him in the face, causing him to fall to the ground, "and sometimes if he's lucky the hero gets the girl but let me tell you something" skyfall said as he picked flame up by the collar, and punched him in the stomach again, causing him the spit blood out.

He could see that flame barely had his eyes open, blood tricked from his nose and mouth, "I'm changing the rule's" skyfall said as he threw flame to the ground and walked up to him, and unsheathed his own knife, and raised it above him, "say hello to your family flame" he said as he watched flame turn his head, flame looked up through his blurry vision, and saw the knife.

Fortunately for him, he never felt the blade, pierce his flesh, instead he heard skyfall cry out in surprise, when he looked up, he saw that twilight had jumped on his back, and was doing her best to distract him. As she did that flame tried to get up, and when he did, he looked over, and saw that due to twilight's inexperience with fighting, skyfall shook her off, and she skidded across the ground and slammed hard into the first step, of the staircase.

"Nooo!" flame shouted, as twilight fell limp, he unsheathed his knife, and charged head first at skyfall, blinded by rage, unfortunately for him, skyfall expected this, and turned around, in doing so caught flame's hoof, and brought his own knife firmly in flame's chest, time seemed to slow, as flame gasped, he felt the blade pierce his chest, he looked up in skyfall's eyes, as hot tears spilled down his cheeks, skyfall, just scoffed and pulled the blade, out and let flame drop to the floor, clutching his bleeding wound.

Twilight had awaken, and see the whole thing, her eyes filled with sheer terror and tears an flame fell to the ground, she looked up at skyfall, who was looking over his body, he then turned to her, and walked calmly over to her, "oh don't cry for him my dear, you will be together soon enough" he said as he walked over to her, with twilight to scared to move.

Flame himself, was doing his best to stop the bleeding, he tore off a section of his cloak and tied it around the wound, temporarily stopping the bleeding, lucky for him, the blade missed all major organs, he looked up and saw skyfall walking towards twilight, suddenly he felt new strength as he grabbed his knife, and stood up, despite his injuries.

"Hey!" skyfall heard from behind, when he turned around, he saw, a wounded flame standing up, "I'm not dead yet" he said getting in a battle position, the new found strength, dulled the injury, and allowed him to fight, but he knew he didn't have long, skyfall saw the wrappings, and just laughed, "well, it looks like all the years of you training paid off" he said as he turned back to him, now ignoring twilight, who had been overjoyed to see her friend alive and standing.

Flame and skyfall approached each other, and began to circle each other, with twilight watching helplessly on the side lines, suddenly believing flame couldn't defend himself due to the injury, skyfall charged forward, but now it was flame's turn to expect this, as he caught skyfall's blow, much to his amazement, they looked each other in the eyes and flame smiled.

"yeah, my training did come through for me, and I also remember, one move, you personally taught me" flame said, and with one hard movement, slammed his head into skyfall's, causing him to go backwards, trying to get his focus back, but he could see nothing but a blur, suddenly skyfall felt a sharp pain, in his face, one that sent him flying to the ground.

He tried to get up, and when his vision cleared he was stopped by flame pointing a crossbow, straight at his face, he looked into flame's eyes, but he simply laughed, much to flame and twilight's surprise, "what are you going to do, kill me, yes that's it flame, do it, kill me and you will become no better than me, you think you can walk away from your past, but it will always find you, no matter what," he said laughing, but was silenced by flame hitting him across the face, with the blunt end of the crossbow.

When he looked back at him, he was still laughing, "why don't you tell her, huh, tell her how many ponies you have killed, in your life, that's something you can't get away from,…you think by killing me it's over, no, there are things in this world that you don't know about, if you kill me, you can expect a bigger storm, one that will destroy you, and everything you know, so make your choice flame" he said staring flame in the face.

Flame hesitated killing him, he looked up at twilight, who just returned his look, he then looked back down at skyfall, who was patiently waiting for him to make his choice, deep down, flame wanted to kill him, for everything he had one, not just to him, but other ponies, but another part told him, to spare skyfall.

Flame made his choice, when he lowered the weapon, much to skyfall and twilight surprise, "no, I'm not going to kill you, but you will face trial for the crimes you have done" flame said as they slowly walked away, but skyfall wouldn't have that for an answer, he slowly unsheathed a secret knife, that was concealed under his cloak.

He yelled as he jumped at flame, from behind, but flame on the other hoof, he spun around, and caught his weapon; he brought his own knife across skyfall's throat, his eyes widened, as he grabbed his throat, and tried to stop the breathing, he looked up at flame and tried to say something, but couldn't, he fell to the ground, dead.

Flame looked at his dead body, "come on, flame, let's get back to the other's" twilight said, as she turned and walked away, but flame stayed there, suddenly he fell to the ground again, clutching his wound, his adrenaline rush he got had now faded, and the weakness from the wound caused him to collapse, when twilight realized her friend wasn't following, she turned around in time to see him collapse.

"flame!" twilight said as she ran to his side, and used her hoof to cradle his head, she looked at him, and saw that he was breathing fast and heavily, she turned her attention to his wound, fresh tears spilled down her cheeks, a she looked at her friend, "twilight, go…get out of here, your brother is waiting, leave me here" flame said in a hushed tone, tears began to form in his eyes, in his mind, he knew it was goodbye, but twilight wouldn't accept that.

"No…I'm not leaving you, not now, you're going to be fine" she said trying to convince herself, flame turned his head to hers, and looked her in the eyes, "you know that's not true, save yourself, I deserve this, after all the things I've done my life, I'm finally going to pay for them, I'm going to see my family again" flame said as his voice got weaker.

Twilight had lost all control, of her emotions, then she cried helplessly, s her fried died in her hooves, "no please, we need you,…I need you, please don't leave me, I can't live without you" twilight said, in a tone that broke flame's heart, "no twilight, you deserve better than me, you will find somepony, in your life, you can settle down, and have a family" he said as his voice, grew ever more weaker.

"no…I don't want just somepony, I want you, please don't leave me,…I love you" twilight said with tears spilling down her cheeks, and hitting flame's wound, when she said that, flame turned his head back to her, and looked her deep in the eyes, and whispered, "I…l-love…you…t-t-too" he said with hushed tone.

Twilight cried even more at this point, as she listened to her friends last words, "ever since I first laid eyes on you, you are the best thing that's happened to me, I should have told you how I felt earlier" he said as his breaths became more labored, "t-t-twilight, goodbye" he said as he drew his last breath, and his hoof fell from her grasp, "twilight couldn't believe it, she wouldn't, "no…no, no!, please come back, I need you, I can't live without you, I love you!" she cried, but she knew it was useless, and she cried into his shoulder, but then she remembered something, she looked up at his wound, and removed his hoof, she looked at his wound, and decided she would try to save him, she moved her horn, to his wound, and closed her eyes to focus.

She had remembered reading about a healing spell, one that could heal any wound, she focused all her magic and energy, into this spell, her horn started to glow, and she pushed herself to bring him back, but sadly it was all for nothing.

Trying to preform that spell, left the caster, very weak, only a unicorn, who mastered their magical capabilities, could still be conscious after the spell, she felt all her energy leave her, twilight felt the energy cease, and soon she fell back, and could barely keep her eyes open, the injury she received from skyfall, didn't help the matter, she fell to her side, and could barely keep her eyes open.

Suddenly she heard, what sounded like her friends calling to her, the last thing she remembered seeing, was, the shadowy figures, coming straight for her, and then darkness took her.

**A/N: Ah, man, even I got teary eyes writing the last part, but hope you all enjoyed, the last chapter will be up soon.**


	14. Chapter 13

**A/N: here we are the last chapter, thank you all for your support, and now the end.**

**The Flaming Dawn: chapter 13: reunion**

After skyfall's death, the remaining troops, had no commander, so they had no choice but to surrender, much too shining armor's relief, but flame and twilight still hadn't returned, so now they set up a full, scale search and rescue.

Much to their relief, they found them, both in the throne room, "oh no, twilight" shining armor said, as he rushed to his fallen sister's side, he immediately, put his hoof to her neck, and found a pulse, he sighed with heavy relief, "she's alive, check him" he said pointing to flame.

They all the proceeded to evacuate, them, and take them to a hospital, where they could regain their strength.

(Canterlot hospital)

The last thing, twilight remembered was seeing her friend die, in her hooves, a part of her thought it was her fault, but the other didn't, suddenly she opened her eyes, and couldn't see to some strange overhead light, that blinded her temporarily, soon her eyes adjusted, and she did her best too, move her head and body, and didn't succeed, and fell back asleep.

Finally she woke up again, and found it easier, when she turned her head; she saw a blur, as her eyes adjusted, and the figure came into focus, revealing a face that, made twilight overjoyed.

"Hey, good morning sleeping beauty, how are you feeling today?" a familiar voice asked, she recognized as her brother.

"shining armor, is that you, where am I" she said trying to get up, but was held in place, "whoa there, slowly now, the doctor said you can leave later today, but for now take it easy" he said helping her sit up, when she looked around, she saw that she was in a hospital bed, and that there lay a bunch of flowers on her bedside tables, all with "get well soon" cards on them.

"wh-what happened, where am I" she asked as she continually surveyed the room around her, "well you're in the canterlot hospital, we found you unconscious in the throne room, it looked like you took a real beating" he said trying to avoid reminding her, of the loss of her friend.

Suddenly the door flew open, and all of her friends came rushing into the room, and piled onto her, "ah, girls, your crushing me" twilight said, in a weak voice due to the lack of oxygen, her friend quickly let go, in enough time, for twilight to see princes celestia, and princess Luna enter the room as well, with broad smiles on their faces, they were both quickly followed by princess cadence.

"twilight, it's so good to see you are alright, how are you feeling today" princess celestia said in a kind tone, twilight smiled up at her mentor, "well, my head still hurts, and I feel a little light headed, but other than that I'm fine" twilight said returning her smile, much to her friends enjoyment, but suddenly her smile disappeared.

"What happened, to the battle, did we stop the fleet?" she asked with a worried face, but the princess's still smiled, much to twilight's surprise, but this time it was Luna's turn to speak, "yes we did, twilight, you will be happy to know, that after skyfall's defeat, the rest of his army refused to fight, and therefore surrendered, the castle and the rest of the town, have been under reconstruction" she said with a smile.

Twilight was happy to hear that, but the one painful memory came back to her all at once, and her smile disappeared, "what…what about flame?" twilight asked already fearing their answer, when she asked that, all their smile's disappeared and were replaced by sad frowns.

"twilight listen…it's hard to explain, but some friends can't be replaced" shining armor said, as he took her hoof, and looked her in the eyes, twilight felt tears appear in her eyes as she looked away, but before she could say anything, she heard the sound of hooves on the floor, and she looked back up at shining armor, whose frown was replaced with a broad smile.

When twilight turned her attention back to the door, she saw a pony she thought she would never see again, in the door way stood, flame himself, fully recovered, from his injuries, twilight thought she was dreaming still, she saw him die, right in front of her, but there he was, walking up to her, alive and well.

"Flame…is that really you?" she asked him, as he walked up to the side of the bed, he laughed and took her hoof, "yeah, it's me" he said, twilight completely forgetting about her aching head, threw her hooves around his neck, into a warming hug, one that he gladly returned, the room was filled, with cheers of endearment, from her friends.

"come on my little ponies, let's leave these two alone for now" princess celestia said with a smile, as they all cleared out of the room, twilight let go of him, and looked in his eyes, "but how, I saw skyfall, the knife, and your wound" she said still confused, but flame just smiled, "that's right I did die, but your spell brought me back, enough for shining armor to detect a pulse, if it weren't for you I would still be dead" flame said with a warming smile.

"oh flame, I thought I lost you" twilight said hugging him again, now he pulled back, and looked into her eyes, "hey, you know you can't get rid of me that easily" he said, as he put a hoof to her cheek, she took his hoof in hers, and looked him in the eyes.

"Flame…about what I said back there" she said looking away, instead of answering with words, he used his hoof to, to bring her face up to his, they both stared each other in the eyes, suddenly flame pressed his lips to hers, at first twilight's eyes widened, but then she leaned into the kiss, wrapping her hooves around his shoulders, welcoming the kiss.

When they parted lips, twilight blushed a deep red, much to flame's amusement, "I know, twilight, I feel the same, I always have" he said kissing her again, only this time twilight was prepared, when they parted again, they looked into each other's eyes, "I love you twilight" flame said in an honest tone, twilight smiled, and looked at him in the eyes, "I love you too, flame" she said as she hugged him again for the third time.

(Canterlot) 2 months later

After canterlot had been rebuilt, the princess hosted, a special ball, in honor of those who died in the battle, but also to celebrate their victory, over the time, the members of the guild, quit their lives as murders, and started new ones, many of them settled down, all over equestria, some even joined the royal guard, in hopes of burying their past, for good.

Flame had been the guest of honor, from his brave actions, in leading the fleet to victory, many ponies congratulated him, some were even jealous, in that time, flame and twilight, had become a couple, and were rarely ever apart, "twilight, would you like to dance" flame asked her, she smiled up at him, and took his hoof, they made their way to the dance floor, and they slowly moved to the music, flame looked over and saw cadence and shining armor dancing as well, they made a perfect couple, flame turned to twilight, who seemed to be having a blast.

But he had other intentions that night, they stopped dancing, and flame looked at her, "let's go outside, get some fresh air" he said getting nervous, luckily twilight didn't notice, and she agreed.

As they walked through the gardens, they found a small gazebo, facing away from the castle; the both looked up into the stars, "wow, beautiful night" twilight said, leaning her head on flame's shoulder, he sighed and turned to her, "not as beautiful as you" he said with a smile, his comment made her blush a deep red, but now he became serious.

"Twilight, I fell in love with you the first moment I saw you, I never wanted to hurt you or your friends, it was my fault everything happened" he said sadly looking away.

Twilight smiled and brought his face level with hers, "but your different now, you've hanged, you became a better pony, and that's why I fell in love with you" she said as she kissed him on the cheek, flame breathed a heavy breath, what she said made him more confident, in his actions.

"twilight, you are the best thing that's happened to me in my life, I guess what I'm trying to say, I want to spend the rest of my life, with you" he said as he pulled out a small box, and kneeled down, and opened it, revealing a shiny gold ring, with a diamond in it, when she saw it, she gasped, and looked down at him.

"twilight sparkle, will you marry me?" he said, looking deep into her eyes, at first twilight was speechless, she never thought flame would do this, but she wasn't complaining, she looked at him, with tears in her eyes, "yes! Of course I will marry you" she said wrapping her hooves around his neck, and kissed him deeply on the lips, much to his joy.

"Come on, let's go tell my brother, and my friends" twilight said overjoyed, as she grabbed his hoof, and ran back into the party.

(Canterlot) 1 month later

After twilight had told her brother, that flame had proposed, he was overjoyed, in the time between when they first met; shining armor grew to trust flame, and thought of him as a close friend, and now a brother.

Twilight immediately told everpony, from her friends, to the princess's, to her parents, all equally happy for the new couple, the princess agreed to let them have the marriage, as soon as possible and today was the day.

Flame was busy, getting his suit on, but was having trouble, "need some help?" he heard a voice say from behind, when he turned he saw a familiar face, his best friend and best mare faith. Due to skywind's passing, flame had asked faith, to be his best mare, she was only too happy to agree.

"hey faith, yeah sure" he said, as she walked over, she quickly tightened, his suit, and turned him around, "this is a big day for you, I'm sure your family would be proud of you" faith said straightening his tie, when he said that, his eyes filled with happy tears, but he wiped them away, for the sake of looking good.

"come on, you don't want to be late for your own wedding" she said as she ran out the door, followed by him, only he had to walk, in his suit, much to his disappointment.

As he stood there waiting for the wedding to start, he reflected on all the things in his life, and how they changed, he was about to be married to the love of his life, today was truly a happy day for him and twilight.

Suddenly the room was filled with music, as the door's opened, and twilight stepped out led by her father, shortly before the wedding, flame got to now, twilight's parents, and they approved of him, to him twilight looked absolutely stunning in her dress as they walked together, when twilight stepped up to the altar, they turned to princess celestia, who had agreed to preside over the ceremony.

The princess cleared her throat and began, "dearly beloved, we are gathered here today, to witness the union, between twilight sparkle and flame, flame do you take this mare to be your lawfully wedded wife, in sickness and in health, till death do you part" when she aid that, flame turned to his bride, "I do" he said with a smile, "twilight sparkle, do you take this stallion to be your lawfully wedded husband, in sickness and in health, till death do you part" twilight turned to her soon to be husband, and said happily, "I do" and turned back to the princess.

"She smiled and finished the ceremony, "then by the power vested in me, I hereby pronounce you, husband and wife, you may kiss your bride" she said with a smile, flame and twilight faced each other, and pressed their lips together passionately, everpony n the room cheered, twilight looked at her mom and dad, and saw that they were both crying, soon flame and twilight ran out the door, and too the carriage, that read "just married" and they took off down the street, but not before twilight threw the bouquet in the air, only to be caught by rarity, causing all the other's to laugh.

(Canterlot, twilight and flame's wedding reception)

After they arrived, twilight and flame took the first dance, as a married couple, soon after everpony else, just joined in, after that, twilight and flame split up, twilight went to talk to her friends, and flame went to get a drink.

At the fountain, he watched as twilight talked with her friends, who had served as her bridal maids, he was interrupted by a voice, "well flame, congratulations, I haven't seen my sister that happy in a long time, come outside I want to talk to you" shining armor said as he led flame outside.

When they reached the porch, it was almost empty, all the others were inside having fun, shining armor turned around and looked at flame, "listen, I'm very happy for you and my sister, aside from my job as captain, there only three thing that I worry about, my wife, my sister, and the rest of my family, this your special day so I won't keep you long, I just wanted to say, I you make my sister regret marrying you, ir you make her sad, I will come after you" he said with a serious face.

Flame's eyes went wide, as he looked at shining armor, suddenly shining armor smiled, and he burst out laughing, "hey, I'm messing with you, lighten up" he said hitting him on the shoulder lightly, it took a few seconds for him to realize that, but he got it and shook off his shocked expressions and smiled, "don't worry, I love her, and would do anything for her" he said with a smile.

Shining armor smiled back and said, "Good, and hey, welcome to the family" he said extending his hoof out, which flame gladly accepted, "now come on, you have a bride to dance with" he said as they went back into the party, little did they all know, that there was a new enemy, yet to reveal himself, one far more powerful than anything they have faced, and it was waiting for the right time to strike.

**TO BE CONTINUED IN PART 2**

**A/N: well this is the end, hope you all enjoyed my second story, and choose what story you want to see next, visit my profile and vote now!**

**Thanks again everybody!**


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